Greece Confirms First Coronavirus Case

Greece has confirmed its first coronavirus case, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The patient was a 38-year-old Greek woman who had travelled from an area of northern Italy, said Sotiris Tsiodras, a representative of the Ministry of Health.

Pharmacies in the northern port city of Thessaloniki have been running out of face masks, he vice president of Thessaloniki Pharmacists Association Anna Sidiropoulou told the Athens Macedonia News Agency. She said shortages were the result of “unjustified panic” among the public.

Surgical masks are in very short supply in Greece. Apostolos Baltas, President of the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association says that “masks are not a panacea.” Most people do not know how to use them and the panic to buy surgical masks can exclude people who need them most, such as hospital workers, but also some patient groups, he told Greek daily Efimerida ton Syntakton.

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