Cyprus Mail 7 December 2020 - by Nick Theodoulou
Anxiety and uncertainty loom large against the backdrop of a curtailed coronavirus Christmas as the government faces a difficult balancing act.
It is a familiar situation by now: cases are high, and as such, stricter measures are brought in – but experts say it takes at least two weeks to judge the effectiveness of such restrictions.
So where are we now?
The stricter measures across Cyprus came into force on November 30 and are expected to last until December 13, when the government is set to make further decisions.
But the past week has been marred by record cases – on Saturday 369 people tested positive – almost daily deaths and with many patients in hospitals.
According to member of the advisory committee on coronavirus, professor of microbiology/molecular virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School, Petros Karayiannis, the current situation is murky.
On the one hand, Limassol and Paphos improved significantly – proving, he says, that the measures work – but “the numbers are worrying”.
“At the moment it doesn’t look as if the rate of transmission is very high, it’s around one, so yes, we have more cases but the transmission we hope is contained because of the measures,” Karayiannis told the Cyprus Mail on Monday.
“But it can take a while for the effect of the measures to be apparent, as with Limassol we are only just seeing the effects of the two weeks.”
The government has previously said that Christmas day and New Year’s Eve will be exempt from the tightest restrictions, with hospitality venues operating hours extended until 12:30am and the number of guests permitted per house to 15.
The current measures dictate that cafes, bars and restaurants must close by 7pm, followed by a 9pm curfew.
Whether this could be tweaked to allow for a later curfew during the holiday period remains to be seen.
But last week Karayiannis warned that if the measures in place until December 13 do not pay off there would be “second thoughts” about a partial rollback as initially planned.
The main concern is that if the measures are relaxed during the holiday period and lead to a high number of cases, January onwards could be particularly grim.
“We’ve got nothing more to throw at this virus until January, when the vaccine will be available – we hope – other than the self-protection measures which people are ignoring,” Karayiannis said.
“Unless they do [abide by the measures] then we will have to face another wave in January.”
A source close to the matter was quoted by the Cyprus News Agency as saying that not only will there be no relaxation of the measures, but tighter restrictions may be necessary – unless the number of cases fall considerably.
The source cited the high number of cases and daily hospital admissions as the main factors making any relaxation of the measures unlikely.
On a similar note, Greece extended many of its restrictions until January 7. Bars, schools and other key areas will not reopen until then, with the government saying progress has been slow.
While a quiet New Year’s Eve celebration may be good for our livers, Zoom calls with families and friends are an odd substitute to the large and festive gatherings most of us are accustomed to.
