Some 2.5 thousand to be repatriated in first weeks of May

Around 2.5 thousand Cypriot nationals and legal residents of the island are expected to be repatriated between May 1 and 15 from several foreign countries where they were left stranded after the international outbreak of coronavirus.

For better management of the large amount of applications filed by Cypriots stranded abroad, a telephone centre was set up on Tuesday at the Zenon Coordination Centre at the Larnaca Airport, the staff of which was bolstered by Civil Defence volunteers and Transport Ministry employees.

According to Transport Ministry official Christos Papamichael, after the issues that arose following the first rescue flights bringing Cyprus nationals back home, the need surfaced for a telephone centre to better serve returnees.

Since the centre was set up on Tuesday, it received some 750 phone calls from the 2.5 thousand Cyprus legal residents stuck in the UK, Greece, and other European countries, who applied for repatriation via the Foreign Ministry website connect2cy, Papamichael said.

On March 16, a government decree issued allowed the repatriation of all legal residents stranded abroad.