Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias announced the cancellation of all carnival events in the country has been for safety reasons following the three confirmed cases of coronavirus.

A trial date was on Wednesday set for a priest in the city of Patras who was setting fire to municipal decorations used in carnival processions.

King Carnival, traditionally a grand, spectacular and satiric figure which opens the parade, was wearing a top hat, smoking a cigar and holding Greece's three bailout deals in his two hands.