Greek officials announced on Thursday that unvaccinated tourism and food workers on islands with high Covid-19 infection rates will have to take two coronavirus tests a week.

The measure, announced by Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias during a press conference, came in the wake of a spike in Covid-19 cases on the islands of Mykonos (where the average of new daily infections quadrupled over the past week), Ios, Paros and Santorini, as well as in the municipalities of Iraklio and Rethymno in Crete. 

Workers will have to take one rapid and one self-test per week, Hardalias said, adding that the same obligation will apply to ferry workers who have not been incoluated.

Earlier on Thursday, authorities announced 2,794 new Covid-19 cases and 6 deaths over the past 24 hours.

Greece’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases now stands at 450,512, with 12,819 dead.

A total of 132 patients remain intubated in intensive care units while 2,740 have left ICU.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.