Another 20 people have tested positive for coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced on Sunday, a further decline compared to yesterday’s 30 cases. A person has died, a man aged 76 years with underlying health conditions who had tested positive, however his death is not attributed to Covid-19. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 446 (including ten in the British Bases). So far there were 14 deaths of patients found positive to Coronavirus of which nine are attributable to Covid-19, 7 men and two women with a median age at 66 years.
Two health care workers and a member of the office staff of the A&E at Famagusta Hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, CNA reports. It said the three were among the 30 new cases announced yesterday evening.
A Ministerial Committee on coronavirus convenes tomorrow under President Nicos Anastasiades to examine and evaluate the measures against the spreading of Covid-19. The meeting is expected to be held tomorrow morning and the Committee will assess the situation, Government Spokesman Kyriakos Koushios told CNA. “The committee will assess the situation, as this is being shaped,” Kousios said, adding that the Council of Ministers will convene next Wednesday.
A total of 98 pedestrians and drivers were booked from 6 pm on Saturday to 6 am on Sunday for breaking the stay at home decree according to the latest figures. There were 3099 checks — of the 98 booked, 30 were in Nicosia, 28 in Limassol, 16 in the Famagusta district, 14 in Larnaca and eight in Paphos. In the corresponding period on the previous day, 105 people were booked after 5153 checks. Police also carried out 683 checks on premises and two were booked, both in Paphos.
Despite tough lock down measures, including a ban on house gatherings except for actual residents, Nicosia police last night broke up a house party with 17 participants in Engomi. The 17 foreign nationals were booked and each fined €300.
A special Aegean flight landed at Larnaca Airport on Saturday night bringing much needed medical equipment and supplies from China. The airplane landed a little after 8 pm and unloading started immediately. It brought 17 tons of medical equipment ordered by the Health Ministry — surgical masks and other protective personal equipment (PPE) such as gowns and glasses as well as 12 ventilators. Another delivery of medical equipment is due from China on Thursday, the Cyprus News Agency reports.
An app is now available for mobile phones to help contain the spread of coronavirus. CovTracer was developed by RISE – Research Centre on Interactive Media, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies in an initiative backed by the deputy ministry for innovation. Deputy minister Kyriakos Kokkinos thanked RISE, a joint venture between the University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology and Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia Municipality, and international partners Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the University College London, for its initiative. The CovTracer app has been developed with the aim of halting the Covid-19 pandemic in Cyprus by identifying as fast as possible people infected individuals had come into contact with. This allows decontamination of locations the infected individual has visited, plus informing and/or communicating with perhaps infected individuals. By checking the user’s location trails, one can identify other citizens who have been in close proximity to the diagnosed carrier and, if the exposed users take appropriate action, reduce the spread of the infectious disease. The first version of the mobile app targets ONLY employees and workers who need to work outside and cannot stay at home, RISE said on its website.
Sixty-nine per cent of people were in favour of the new stricter measures imposed by the government in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to a survey published by daily Politis on Sunday. Most of the respondents said people’s observance of the restrictions was average, 43 per cent, while 38 per cent said it was good. The majority, or 51 per cent, agreed with the government’s decision not to fly back all the students from overseas. Twenty-eight per cent disagreed. Fifty-four per cent considered the police’s conduct during the checks to be good. Eighteen per cent said it was excellent while six per cent said it was either bad or unacceptable.
The announcement by Fitch rating agency ranking Cyprus’ long-term rating as stable highlights the government’s responsible management both of the economy and the public finances under the present adverse conditions, the ministry of finance said. Fitch maintained Cyprus’ long-term credit rating to BBB- changing the outlook to stable from positive. “Fitch rating agency’s announcement maintaining the Republic of Cyprus credit rating under these adverse conditions, even with stable outlook, shows that the government’s responsible management of the economy and of the public finances remains the key to safeguarding macroeconomic stability,” the ministry said. “In these particularly difficult conditions in the global economy and international markets due to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic challenges we are called on to face the finance ministry remains focused on maintaining the Cypriot economy’s credibility to the maximum extent and on maintaining jobs and supporting the economy,” the ministry added.
