Greeks have heard that in Turkey, young adults were arrested for dressing up as emergency doctors and staging alcohol-fuelled, coronavirus-themed weekend bashes; that in Germany, too, twentysomethings have taken to late-night corona parties; and that in Spain, a cheeky animal lover has been fined for walking a goat on a lead to beat the curfew after another Spaniard tried to bypass the rules dressed as an 8ft dinosaur. From France to Finland, people across Europe and beyond seem to be defying lockdown orders.

The Greeks themselves are hardly law-biding folk. They always seem to find an excuse to flout rules, defy deadlines and put the general good second to their own. But as the coronavirus rages through Europe, they are showing a rare and sober