in-cyprus 25 May 2020 -Bouli Hadjioannou
Seven of the eight new coronavirus cases announced yesterday had arrived in Cyprus on Thursday on two repatriation flights, Phileleftheros reports.
It said three were on one flight and four on another. Both flights had come from the UK but it is not known where the seven had started their journey – that is whether in the UK or elsewhere and had traveled there in order to join a repatriation flight.
The announcement came a day before the abolition today of compulsory quarantine at hotels for those on repatriation flights, provided they test negative. Instead, they will need to self-isolate at home.
Arrivals on repatriation flights from May 25 to June 8 will henceforth undergo a test and remain in quarantine for a day until the result is out. If they test negative, they will be required to self-isolate at home.
Asked on CyBC on Monday, government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos said arrangements would be made for people who cannot self-isolate at home because there are vulnerable members of the family there. He did not elaborate.
In an announcement, on Saturday regarding the abolition of compulsory quarantine at hotels the Transport Ministry said:
“The compulsory quarantine is abolished as from Monday, 25 May 2020, and all those who are accommodated in hotels where they have been removed after their arrival from abroad, shall repair to their places of residence in self-isolation for the remaining days, provided their diagnostic test for COVID-19 is negative, depending on the category of country from which they came.
“Their transportation to their places of stay may be undertaken by family or through a personal arrangement of the person staying at the hotel where they have been taken. In cases where this is not feasible, the Road Transport Department shall arrange for buses to call at the hotels where the hosted persons are staying on Monday 25 May 2020 roughly between 12 a.m. – 1 p.m., in order to transport the persons whose place of stay is situated in a district different from that of the hotel of accommodation to the central bus station running regular routes to the city of the district where they live.
“As from Tuesday 26 May 2020, the transportation from the airport to the hotel will continue to be undertaken by the Road Transport Department; however, the transportation from the hotel to the places of stay shall not be provided by the Road Transport Department and may be undertaken by family or through personal arrangement instead of the person staying at the hotel where they have been taken on arrival.”
On Friday, in announcing the gradual opening of the airports from June 9, the government had said that the period of self isolation is seven days for those from countries in group A and B and 14 for those from other countries.
Group A is currently made up of Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, Norway, Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, Israel, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia and Lithuania. Group B is made up of Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Estonia and Czechia.
