Government: Supermarkets closures, curfew not on the table

Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said in a tweet on Thursday that the government has no intension of shutting supermarkets, urging the public to avoid clustering in supermarkets.

“Mass gatherings do not help to contain the virus at all,” Ioannou said.

Curfew not being discussed yet

For the time being the government does not intend to impose further drastic measures such as a curfew in order to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, Government Spokesperson Kyriacos Koushios said on Thursday after a meeting of parliamentary political party leaders chaired by President Nicos Anastasiades.

The country’s political leadership, both government and political parties, in a spirit of mutual understanding exchanged proposals which will be drawn up as bills and tabled before Parliament next week for voting, Koushios said.

The Spokesman urged the public to follow prevailing advice and stay home, sending the message that "united in the battle against the coronavirus we will be victorious."

Koushios noted that the imposing of a curfew was not discussed.

"We do not make a secret of it however that there are plans for all possible scenarios but this will be depend on developments," he added, stressing that the government is taking decisions based on the advice of experts.

At this stage, he continued, there is no intention of implementing further drastic measures, which does not however rule out the possibility of issuing more decrees.