Minister lashes out at decree violators

Cypriot Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou called on members of the public to “drastically limit their contacts in order for the effort against coronavirus to work” as police fined a record number of violations on Sunday.

Ioannou, who addressed a press conference on Sunday, said the government was very concerned over a large increase in confirmed cases where contact tracing revealed the coronavirus had been transmitted through family and friendly environment by individuals who had not restricted themselves.

“It is unfortunate that we find many cases of people who do not confine themselves and transmit the coronavirus without knowing it”, he said.

The health minister reiterated that in order for the effort to work, “we must drastically limit our contacts.”

Speaking on Sunday’s lab results, the minister said officials detected more than 15 contacts of the virus carriers, adding that this mentality undermined the whole effort.

“Unfortunately, many do not understand the seriousness of the situation and continue to behave irresponsibly,” Ioannou pointed out.

In the meantime, 455 fines were issued by police on Sunday, a record number of violations since a decree on movement restrictions went into effect in the Republic. The number was nearly four times the daily fines issued earlier last week.

Police told the Cyprus News Agency that officers conducted 10,494 inspections in the last 24 hours, issuing fines to 455 for movements that were deemed to be violation with the decree.

In terms of business establishments, only one violation was recorded out of a total of 5772 checks in all districts of the Republic. CNA said the violation involved a coffee shop at a local village in Morphou.

Ioannou said the tracing and tracking process was helpful so that experts can quickly identify the contacts of a confirmed case and prevent it from spreading.

But the effort makes no sense if people do not really confine themselves, the minister added.