Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-09-30

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Inoculation of population against new flu virus to begin in 20 days

[02] Retail sales down 10.2pct

[01] Inoculation of population against new flu virus to begin in 20 days

The government recently announced that the entire population, including foreign nationals, will be inoculated.

Avramopoulos said that 100,000 vaccines have already been imported, and are stored at the National Health Center facilities in Vari, outside Athens, noting that the European Commission has already given the thumbs up to the pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Glaxo, which produce the new vaccine, to dispense in a large number of European countries, including Greece.

Another 100,000 vaccines are due to arrive next week, according to ministry estimations.

The vaccine will initially be administered to the vulnerable, or high risk, population groups, which are estimated at nearly 2.5 million people.

Referring to the temporary closure earlier in the week of two highschools in two districts of Athens after several pupils contracted the virus, Avramopoulos explained that this had been a readiness exercise for the ministry and the authorities in general, which proved the effectiveness and success of the procedural protocol which has been set out by the ministry, when the problem arose in those schools.

Following assessment of the situation in the two highschools, in Melissia and Haidari, where cases of the new flu were confirmed, the closure of all classes of the schools for seven days were recommended to Athens prefect Yiannis Sgouros, as per the procedural protocol.

The health ministry also informed the education ministry, and assured that there was no cause for concern as the instructions given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) are being strictly adhered to.

[02] Retail sales down 10.2pct

The statistics service in a report attributed this decline to a 3.8 pct drop in foodstore sales, a 14.6 pct decline in fuel and lubricants sales and a 14.4 pct fall in other shop sales.

The turnover index in the retail sales (current prices), including fuel and lubricants, fell 9.1 pct in July, after an increase of 4.2 pct recorded in July 2008.

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