(ANSA-AFP) - ATHENS, 03 NOV - Athens and northern Greece on Tuesday entered lockdown for at least a month to fight a resurgent coronavirus, causing small businesses to worry anew for their future.

Cafes, restaurants, bars, gyms, cinemas and theatres and most non-essential businesses shut down in Athens, which accounts for half of the country's 11 million people, and in the northern cities of Thessaloniki and Serres, which went under even harsher lockdowns. But a full lockdown in Athens, the second this year, is still possible, if the new restrictions fail to flatten a spike in infections, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said as other European countries also reimpose lockdowns or strict measures. "We are preparing for the worst-case scenario," Petsas told Skai TV. "The measures will toughen if we do not adhere to them. Unfortunately, fear seems to mobilise societies." Novel coronavirus cases have been soaring during the last few weeks in Greece, which has recorded more than 42,000 infections and 642 deaths. (ANSA-AFP).