Sharjah24 – AFP: Thousands of Greek restaurant owners on Tuesday shut their businesses in a nationwide one-day protest against restrictions and tougher fines aimed at increasing the vaccination rate.

They object to recent measures making establishments responsible for checking the vaccination or test status of customers.

Any restaurant or cafe found serving customers without the proper documentation risks a fine of 5,000 euros ($5,700) and temporary closure.

Owners highlight that customers are fined only 300 euros.

The Poese union, which represents over 100,000 businesses and some 400,000 workers nationwide, said the sector had lost more than 37 percent of its turnover between 2019 and 2020 because of the pandemic.

It added that a better-than-expected tourism season was not enough to cover the losses of the past 16 months.

Coronavirus cases in Greece are at the highest level since the start of the pandemic, with the daily infection rate hovering around 7,000 for much of the past week.

Out of a population of 10.7 million, fewer than 6.5 million in Greece are fully vaccinated.