ATHENS, March 5 — Greek health officials today reported 21 new coronavirus infections among a group that had recently travelled to Israel by bus, raising the country’s total to 31.

"It was a closed group of people who were on a bus for several days,” Sotiris Tsiodras of the national public health organisation (EODY) told a news conference, adding that they had returned to Greece on February 27.

Two among the group — an elderly man and his wife — had already tested positive as Greece’s ninth and tenth case respectively.

Another 21 among the group were confirmed today, Tsiodras said.

Most of the cases are in good health and are being monitored at home, he added.

Officials last night announced a two-day school shutdown and a cancellation of public events in the areas in western Greece where the group had come from.

The health authorities said the two-day shutdown included "a suspension of all mass gatherings” at theatres, cinemas, museums and sports events in the Peloponnese regions of Achaia and Elis and the island of Zakynthos through tomorrow. — AFP