Expert raises Covid-19 alarm for this week

One coronavirus case has been detected at a kindergarten in Nicosia, while there were 21 cases over the weekend in the Republic of Cyprus, with health experts remaining concerned over asymptomatic carriers and protocol violators.

Health expert Petros Karayiannis, who serves on the government’s coronavirus task force, said non-compliance with rules and guidelines could become more evident this week, after many protocol violations were recorded throughout the island last week and over the weekend.

“We are going to see the outcome of this sort of behaviour by the end of this week, I hope we can avoid it because we absolutely need to bring the situation under control before autumn comes around,” Karayiannis said.

The health expert also warned that young people were particularly at risk of contracting the virus, saying many youths were asymptomatic because they tend to experience mild symptoms.

But Karayiannis used the example of two young people in Greece who were infected with the virus and are currently in the Intensive Care Unit.

“So we need to be extra cautious so that we don’t end up seeing similar cases here in Cyprus,” Karayiannis said.

On Monday, the health ministry said a case was detected at a kindergarten in Nicosia, owned and operated by PASYDY trade union, while on Sunday, officials said seven people tested positive including one person through a private imitative and two who were detected through random testing. One of the random checks, reportedly from Larnaca, had some symptoms.

Three others were described as travelers, including a Nigerian national who is a permanent resident of Cyprus and flew to Larnaca through Athens, Greece. He was tested at the terminal upon arriving on the island with reports saying he had no symptoms.

Two other travelers included two women on a flight from Greece. Reports said a Greek national, who is a permanent resident of Cyprus, had gone to Greece on vacation while the other, a Cypriot national, was described as a permanent resident of Germany. The two women were on the same flight from Thessaloniki but were not traveling together.

On Saturday, there were 14 new COVID-19 cases including 5 people who tested positive through contact tracing, 7 individuals who got tested through private initiatives, and two referred by doctors with one of them having traveled in the recent past.

In the meantime, police reported 25 individuals over the weekend for not using face masks in various business establishments. Thirteen citations involved employees, according to the Cyprus News Agency.

Following the latest government decrees to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, recent measures made it mandatory for employees who come in contact with the public or prepare food and beverages to wear protective masks.

Members of the public are also required to wear protective masks when shopping in indoors spaces.