Constantinos Tsioutis, head of the Advisory Scientific Team said that the program “test to stay,” which provides for continuous testing on students, particularly following the detection of a confirmed COVID-19 case in a classroom, is already being implemented in the United States and other European countries. Regarding the situation in hospitals, Tsioutis said that every day there is a record number of admissions, while the number of deaths has also increased so he warned that if this situation continues, January will be a very lethal month.
Speaking to state broadcaster, Tsioutis said the target is for schools to operate safely and added that with the method proposed children who are close contacts will undergo tests daily and might not need to stay at home. However, he said the implementation of the “test to stay” measures has not been finalized yet.
He also added that so far the Omicron variant has not prevailed and that there is still the Delta variant in the community which is sending people to hospitals.