Explosion shocks Latchia health centre

Police are searching for motives following an explosion in Latchia on Monday outside the town’s public health centre, where vaccinations against COVID-19 continue to take place.

According to local media, an explosion occurred Monday evening after 7pm outside Latchia Health Center, south of the capital, where last month President Nicos Anastasiades received his second dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus.

There was no official report over the incident but local reports said police officers including members of the bomb squad rushed to the scene, with preliminary findings pointing to gas canisters thrown along with flammable material such as a fire accelerant.

No injuries were reported while police investigators were said to be sifting through security camera footage in an effort to identify any perpetrators.

Health centre officials said there were no changes in the vaccination programme at the facility following the incident, saying vaccine shots would continue normally.

Police spokesperson Christos Andreou said investigators were not ruling out the possibility that delinquent youths may have been involved in the attack, according to local media. 

In late December, a bomb went off outside another medical centre also in the capital, with CID Nicosia saying high explosives were used in the incident but stopping short of speculating about motives.

The Latchia Health Center was visited by the President twice recently, when he sent out a message of hope after getting the jab.

Speaking to the press outside the entrance, Anastasiades said he wanted to send a "message of patience, endurance, but also hope” during the pandemic.

The commander in chief, who has been a strong advocate for the early rollout of vaccinations against COVID-19, also had a message for vaccine doubters and deniers, noting that medication and vaccines were a common response to a disease.