"Ιn the space of a few weeks we were called upon to deal with a double crisis," underlined government spokesperson Stelios Petsas at a press briefing on Thursday, noting that Greece is successfully handling the asymmetrical threat of migration and will do the same with the threat of the coronavirus.
He analysed the three key axes on which the government's strategy against the pandemic is based, noting the prompt and coordinated response with the early imposition of social distancing measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the reinforcement of the healthcare system and the support given to workers and enterprises. He dismissed the alleged creation of new facilities for migrants on the Greek mainland as fake news.
"We have now entered the most crucial two-week period," he said, adding that it was positive that the Greeks, for the most part, are complying with the extreme and unprecedented measures, never imposed before in times of peace.
He said that, as of Thursday, all Aegean Airlines flights to Brussels have been suspended, with only a small number of flights remaining for reasons of connectivity with EU's administrative centre. 
He sternly condemned those spreading "fake news" about the alleged construction of 28 new facilities for migrants and refugees on the Greek mainland, explaining that these are existing facilities that have now come under the jurisdiction of the migration and asylum ministry, and urged the citizens to select the media that they rely on for information with care.
Petsas said that the health ministry is going ahead with the hiring of additional healthcare staff, with 279 doctors and 1,077 nursing and other staff already hired. Meanwhile, a further 3,285 hirings have been approved, a number that exceeds initial plans for 2,000 hirings by 64 percent.
On the support of enterprises and workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, Petsas said that the govenrment has already announced three sets of measures amounting to 6 billion euros for March and April alone. The fiscal cost now comes to 4.7 billion euros, which corresponds to 2.5 of Greece's GDP, he noted. Obviously, he added, the state of the real economy is deteriorating steadily, which was why the government was carrying out evaluations on a daily basis.
Finally, he said that Greece was striving for the best possible cooperation on a European level and that Athens was hoping that the EU's response - unlike that during the debt crisis that mainly affected the EU South - will include the issue of a special bond and use of the European Stability Mechanism's tools to finance the actions of EU member-states to stave off the repercussions of the pandemic.