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511. Cabinet approves bill imposing steep rise in penalties for decree violations

The Cabinet on Friday approved a bill seeking to see penalties for violations of coronavirus measures skyrocket, as part of government efforts to increase deterrents to disregarding decrees and regulations under the Quarantine Law as the island gradually returns to normality....

512. Second phase of relaxation of measures kicks off on Thursday

Cyprus will be making an important step toward resuming daily life as normal on Thursday, when the second phase of the gradual lifting of restriction measures is set to kick off....

513. President lets man who broke curfew walk free

President Nicos Anastasiades has issued a reprieve for a man sentenced to 45 days in prison for violating curfew, following outrage by legal experts who said the punishment did not fit the crime...

514. Beachgoers flocked to SBA beaches over weekend, 25 booked

British Bases police booked 25 people over the weekend for violating coronavirus decrees while visiting the Lady’s Mile and Curium beaches in Limassol....

515. EU governments risk clash with EU exec in bid to save tourism season

European Union governments risk a clash with the EU executive arm over their support for travel firms issuing vouchers for cancelled holiday deals without giving customers the option of cash refunds as required by EU law, diplomats said....

516. MP fined for violating restriction measures

Diko MP Zacharias Koulias was caught lunching at a Larnaca grill house on Saturday without going through the proper SMS procedure, with reports on Tuesday claiming he had called the Chief of Police to get out of the fine to no avail....

517. Churchgoers of illegal service fiasco to face court

By Friday morning, police had managed to track down 14 of the churchgoers who had taken part in an illegal service at Ayios Georgios Spileon Monastery in Limassol’s Erimi village on Thursday, which soon turned into a fiasco as participants had locked themselves in rooms upon the sight of the police while some managed to escape....

518. Police hold church stakeout after illicit service participants refuse to come out

Police have been staking out a church in the Limassol District’s Erimi village since 9am on Thursday after finding out that a church service attended by the public was taking place, but attendants are refusing to leave the church in fear of being booked....

519. Seventy lockdown violations in 12 hours

Seventy people were fined in the last 12 hours for violating lockdown rules currently in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic...

520. EU says coronavirus tracking apps should avoid storing data on servers

Mobile apps to track coronavirus cases in Europe should keep as much data as possible on the user’s device rather than in a central server to best maintain individual privacy, an EU document says....

521. Lockdown weighs heavily on Orthodox Christians during Easter

522. Morphou bishop defies church lockdown

Morphou Bishop Neophytos spoke out against decree orders on Palm Sunday, after accusing police officers of being “rude” and praised the Bulgarian government for keeping churches open...

523. Court comes down hard on persons found gathered for a birthday party

The Paphos District Court on Tuesday issued harsh fines to five persons who were gathered in a home for a birthday party in Paphos....

524. Cyprus mulls pushing back Easter celebrations

The President of the Republic of Cyprus is expected to call on the Archbishop to push back on Easter celebrations, as media sources say the government is likely to heed the advice of experts to extend coronavirus measures until the end of April...

525. Boris Johnson spends night in hospital

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was still in hospital on Monday suffering persistent coronavirus symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the virus, although Downing Street said he remained in charge of the government...

526. Tracking app promoted to combat pandemic

An EU-funded research centre in the Republic of Cyprus is calling on people to install a new app called CovTracer to help limit the spread of coronavirus, amid concerns regarding privacy and effectiveness of tracking applications...

527. Court issues first prison sentence for COVID-19 decree violation

The Larnaca District Court imposed a 30-day prison sentence and a €700 fine on a 52-year-old who had attacked a member of police after he fined a relative of the 52-year-old, who he was accompanying outdoors, for violating restriction measures....

528. PHOTO GALLERY: Athens streets deserted during lockdown

Deserted squares, padlocked parks, empty avenues where lines of cars once idled bumper-to-bumper in traffic as motorbikes and scooters zoomed through the narrow gaps between. The Greek capital, Athens, like so many cities across the world, has seen its streets empty under a lockdown designed to stem the spread of the new coronavirus....

529. President: stricter measures necessary, but undergoes 'severe crisis of conscience'

In a Facebook post on Tuesday President Nicos Anastasiades said he undergoes “a severe crisis of conscience” every time the Government is required to enforce stricter measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic, but said that current circumstances necessitate that tougher measures are taken....

530. Cyprus gets tougher with stricter bundle of measures

Stricter measures to contain the spread of coronavirus were announced by the Health Minister on Monday as the island scrambles to curb the steadily rising deaths and infections....

531. 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...

532. Cyprus court issues first penalties for decree violations

The first two penalties were issued by a Cyprus court on Friday to violators of the decree restricting movement to the bare minimum....

533. Cabinet approves bill allowing courts to jail violators of Covid-19 decrees

The Cabinet on Thursday approved a bill allowing authorities to impose €150 fines on violators of the decrees issued on the basis of the Quarantine Law, while a second bill given the green light authorizes certain cases to go to court which will be able to impose a prison sentence and/or a fine of up to €3,000....

534. Police clamp down on unjustified movements

Police in the Republic of Cyprus have been checking motorists and pedestrians for possible curfew violations, with 123 individuals found to be in violation of a decree on movement restrictions on Wednesday...

535. SMS service 8998 gets the axe

The SMS service, operated by the government to enforce movement restrictions amid the coronavirus crisis, was back up and running smoothly on Wednesday morning, while the President of the Republic has warned that a total curfew would be in place if people abuse the service...

536. Persons travelling for permitted reasons to fill in a form or send SMS

During the partial curfew to be enforced at 6pm on Tuesday for three weeks, those wishing to leave their home or shelter for any of the reasons falling under the exceptions to the travel restriction must either fill in a special form or send a text message to 8998....

537. President: Unnecessary travel strictly prohibited, violators to be fined

Addressing the nation on Monday night for the second time since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Cyprus in early March, President Nicos Anastasiades announced that all unnecessary travel will be banned as of 6pm on Tuesday until April 13....

538. Greece shuts down to beat pandemic

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a full lockdown, starting from 6 a.m on Monday, aimed at curbing the further spread of the coronavirus...

539. Cyprus continues to violate crowd ban

Police continued to conduct checks to assure the enforcement of the Health Minister’s decree banning indoor gatherings of over 75 people, with seven reports filed on Monday against premises in Paphos, Larnaca, Nicosia, and Limassol....

540. New government travel restriction leaves thousands of Cypriots trapped abroad

Thousands of Cyprus nationals have reportedly been trapped abroad after the government said it would not allow entry to arrivals without valid health certificates, but labs abroad say they are following protocols whereby checks are only conducted on those showing symptoms....