Cyprus brings back tough measures

The Cypriot government on Wednesday announced additional measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, with Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou saying extending current measures through New Year’s Eve was necessary due to a worsening situation.

Ioannou, who emerged from an emergency Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said shopping malls and restaurants would close beginning Friday early morning at 6am.

Restaurants and catering establishments serving food will also close down, while business owners maintain the option of offering delivery services any time day or night.

Church and worship services will be allowed to take place without attendees, while special services such as weddings, christenings, anf funerals can be attended by up to ten people.

Private and public high schools and colleges will also shift to remote and distance learning from Monday, December 14, while tutoring and afternoon lessons will also be shut down.

The additional measures came a day after the health ministry announced five more deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday and 419 new cases, of which 212 were confirmed cases via rapid tests completed in the previous days.

“You all know that in recent days there was a worsening of the epidemiological indices, the worse ever since the pandemic took hold,” Ioannou said during a press conference immediately following the Cabinet meeting.

Ioannou went on to say that the “virus is everywhere, in all towns, villages, districts, and we want to reduce further spread before it is too late.”

“This is why for the foreseeable future our effort will focus on high risk areas where crowds gather,” the minister explained.