With the fourth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic rapidly spinning out of control and with public hospitals at the breaking point, the government is reportedly prepared to institute strict social distancing measures at supermarkets and retail shops and is mulling harsh measures to totally isolate unvaccinated citizens in a sort of lockdown just for them.
Until now, public health regulations mandated that supermarkets allow entry to one customer per two-metre area, a measure that is hardly ever enforced in practice.
The new regulation will reportedly allow entry to one customer per seven-metre or nine-metre areas.
The health ministry is also reviewing the possibility of imposing a limit on the number of customers allowed in large commercial stores at any given time.
Possible ‘harsh lockdown’ on the unvaccinated
With the epidemiological data nationwide worsening from day to day, the government is preparing for every eventuality, amid experts’ dire projections of a large spike in the number of deaths, intubated patients, and confirmed infections over the coming weeks.
If the existing and new measures prove ineffective in stemming the spread of the virus, the government is reportedly considering allowing unvaccinated citizens to enter only supermarkets and pharmacies and barring them from all other spaces and activities, even with a negative rapid test.
In a worst case scenario, SKAI television has reported, the government may bar unvaccinated people even from entering supermarkets, allowing them only to order online, but that would be only if the National Health System is on the verge of total collapse.
