in-cyprus 21 May 2020 -Bouli Hadjioannou
The end of restrictions of movement signals the end of the 8998 SMS service which over the seven weeks of March 26 to May 20 had granted more than 16.1 million permissions of ‘movement by exception’.
Figures from the deputy ministry of research, innovation and digital policy published by CNA show that a total of 16,107,129 approvals were given in the near two month period.
Between March 26 and May 3, when the public was restricted to one SMS a day, a total of 8,222,612 permissions were granted.
From May 4 to May 20, when the public was allowed three text messages, the number of approved requests to the 8998 service was 7,884,517.
Another 79,291 were given permission through the IVR Call center from April 9 when it started operation through to May 20
The three most popular reasons for movement by exception were 2 — shopping, 6 — for personal exercise or walking a pet and 8 — other, accounting for around 20% each of the total.
