A breath away from a serious setback is Cyprus. The number of new cases is again double digits (13) after almost three months of single digits and zero cases. Compliance with the distancing measures is non-existent. Scientists and doctors are sounding the alarm. The health ministry, which has been warning for two weeks, has been put on alert again in the hope that yesterday's number of new cases will not continue.
"If no action is taken, in two to three weeks when the Cypriots return from their holidays in Greece, we will have a big problem" the warning of Professor Leontios Kostrikis who speaking to "F" attributed the sudden increase in cases of coronavirus in Limassol to two main factors: "on yachts arriving at the marina, from Israel for example which is showing a significant outbreak of the epidemic , and, to shipping companies that very often receive arrivals of their executives who come to Cyprus on private planes." It stresses, however, that 'imported cases are one thing and transmission of the virus in the Community is one thing. If we kept to the protection measures and didn't see so much relaxation the situation would be different."
For Greece, he even stressed that he would recommend categorising it according to the reference area since, as he explained, "the country presents a mosaic with regard to the epidemic at the moment. There are areas with a significant increase in cases. These areas, in my personal opinion, must be placed in Category B. "I sound the alarm and say it in a very clear way. I understand that there is a sensitivity with regard to Greece but for me, my primary goal is to protect my country."
The warning of the Cyprus Medical Association, which issued a statement stressing that "it is up to us as a society to prevent the possibility of a new wave of pandemics", was also clear. "Our behaviour as citizens in terms of strict adherence to personal protection measures and health protocols against coronavirus plays a key role in avoiding any setback," PIS said, recalling "the importance of masking and keeping distances in places of confusion and antisepsy. These measures concern both our individual protection and public health."
The Government is regrouping and monitoring the situation while the scientific committee re-climbs the presidential hill on Friday. The aim is to inform the President of the Republic of the epidemiological picture as it has been in the last two weeks and to take, if necessary, more stringent measures to put an end to the epidemic.
"Some thoughts are being made I think will be discussed in the Presidential, I am sure that there will be a question of taking more unconstrained measures or at least a question of respecting existing measures that are not being implemented, everyone has relaxed and this relaxation is responsible for the chains of infections that we are now seeing in Limassol," Mr. Kostrikis said in his statements to "F" and added, "if we respected the protection measures we would not have the transmission chains that we have now. I therefore want to see stricter implementation of the measures and stricter supervision of the implementation of the measures. I think, for example, that restaurant owners need to retrain their staff because we can't see waiters with their noses out of the mask. The police have to take over and I say again, it is one thing to introduce cases and another thing to transmit."
Transmission chains active
The 13 new cases of coronavirus emerged yesterday from a total of 1725 laboratory diagnoses. Seven of them concern the city of Limassol and most of them are contacts of other confirmed cases, which shows that transmission chains in the city exist and are active.
According to the Health Ministry, of the 13 new cases, seven are contacts. Four of them are case contacts announced last week. They are all Cypriots and 6 incidents have already been detected in this transmission chain.
Two people are case contacts which was the same contact of another confirmed incident. It had been traced through public health clinics. Five cases of coronavirus have been detected in this transmission chain to date.
One person is a contact of a case that was announced on July 27 and had a travel history.
With regard to the other cases announced yesterday, one concerns a nurse at the Nicosia General Hospital. This person underwent an examination since he needs regular hospitalization due to treatments he is undergoing.
Five cases were detected by a private initiative. One concerns a person who showed symptoms but stated that he had not been in contact with another case and has no travel history. Two people, Turkish Cypriots residing in the free areas and specifically in Limassol who have recently returned from England, one person who returned from Santorini and was examined as a precaution and one person who also showed symptoms and was referred for testing.
With this data the total number of known confirmed cases of coronavirus in the free areas reached 1080.
5000 tests in Limassol
The conduct of 5 thousand random checks for Covid-19 was decided at a meeting in the Municipality of Limassol, with the participation of the Director of Medical Services Dr. Elizabeth Konstantinou and the epidemiological surveillance team of the Ministry of Health. In particular, as Mayor Nikos Nikolaidis said in a statement, it was decided that random laboratory checks should be carried out at two levels, with the first concerning two thousand random checks to be addressed to the general public, by special mobile units, which from 14:00 yesterday are located in Grigori Axentiou Square, in front of the Governorate and one in the area of Episosis.
The Council of Ministers endorsed the proposal of the Ministers of Health to carry out 3000 sample examinations for COVID-19 in large gathering places such as Mall, supermarkets etc. As Deputy Government Representative Panagiotis Sedon said after the completion of the Ministerial meeting, the programme is already under way and sampling is carried out by mobile units in these areas.
Ioannou: Alert for opposition to resurgence
A meeting with the epidemiological team was convened for today by Health Minister Konstantinos Ioannou, who met yesterday in Nicosia with the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakidou. The Minister conveyed his concern about the detection of cases in the community, some of which have not yet been found as an epidemiological link. This, he explained, shows that a portion of the population does not adhere to the necessary protection measures and health protocols, pointing out that only if there is constant vigilance from everyone will the resurgence and worsening of the situation be prevented. The Minister of Health and the European Commissioner discussed at length the issue of vaccines and the negotiation under way by the European Commission, on the initiative of the Commissioner herself, on the joint supply of vaccines for all Member States.
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