Greece shops selling Christmas merchandise open despite COVID lockdown

Shops in Greece selling Christmas-related merchandise were allowed to open their doors on Monday, while other retail stores waited for the green light from the government.

Giorgos Chronakis, owner of a seasonal shop that sells Christmas decorations in central Athens said the one-month lockdown cost him 90% of his revenue.

"We are trying to recover what we can," he said.

Chronakis said he also suffered great losses when his shop was closed during the last lockdown around Easter, one of the biggest religious holidays in Greece.

"We hoped that during Christmas we could recover the lost turnover from Easter and the summer. Unfortunately, things came in a way that made this a tragic year," he said.

Despite a significant drop in cases over the past week, authorities have extended the countrywide lockdown to December 14, but have allowed certain shops, including those selling Christmas-related merchandise, to open from Monday.

The government was slated to make new announcements regarding lockdown measures later in the day.

The number of new daily coronavirus cases has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since October 26, Greek health authorities announced Sunday.

There were 904 confirmed cases over the past 24 hours, along with 101 deaths, authorities said.

The total number of confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic is 115,471, with 3,003 deaths.

The government is anxious to salvage something of the holiday shopping season and limit 2020 GDP loss to 10.5%.