Just as the pandemic was taking hold in Europe, a Boeing 747 landed in Athens with millions of surgical masks on board.

Greek shipowners in bid to return dignity to hospital patients
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Rear-admiral Stylianos Petrakis (left), head of the Hellenic Navy chiefs of staff, signs a donation agreement with Greek owner Panos Laskaridis. Photo: Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation website

The supplies were vital to restock Greece’s public health system, emaciated after a decade of government austerity.