Filenews 17 December 2020 - by Myrto Zoubidou
Literally at the last minute cypriot citizens will be informed about the people who will be entitled to host at their festive table, while yesterday the Council of Ministers showed red in shopping malls and Church rejecting the request of entrepreneurs to reopen their businesses before the weekend and saying "no" to the proposal of the Holy Synod to return the faithful to the churches throughout the twelve-day period.
Both of these requests, of course, cannot be discussed again at the next Meeting of the Council of Ministers, which will probably also study the proposal sent to the Minister of Health by the owners of food restaurants, also asking for the reopening of their premises, albeit under strict restrictions, although such an intention has not been formally expressed by the Government.
In the case of the Church, of course, archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus has been authorized by the Holy Synod to seek a meeting with the President of the Republic. Until yesterday there was no announcement on the part of either the Presidential or the Archdiocese, and it was not known whether the Holy Synod would insist on its decision, following the negative attitude of the Ministry.
Positively, according to information from the "F" from the Presidential, the Government seems to be facing the possibility of some relaxations in the social activities of citizens during the festive days. Previous announcements of an increase in the number of people allowed at gatherings in houses and a change in the start time on christmas and New Year's eve will be discussed, as we are informed, on 22 December by the Cabinet which will finalise its decisions.
However, scientists yesterday stressed that the epidemiological situation in Cyprus does not seem to allow for easing at the moment. But they asked for time to position themselves, after first assessing the results of the next few days.
"The epidemiological data at the moment do not give us any indication that we can recommend easing," the head of the advisory scientific committee, Professor Konstantinos Tsiotis, told "F", adding however that "although we are observing for stabilisation, this stabilisation is at very high levels and much higher than the safety indicators". On the possibility of relaxations in the social activities of citizens, Mr Tsiotis said that "from the day of implementation of the measures to date not enough days have passed so that we can properly assess the situation. We must see in the coming days and we will do so if we are asked for our suggestions."
On the other hand, he added, "measures alone cannot work if they are not implemented properly." That is, he said, "we stay at ten people per assembly but in the end we see that in one house, ten people gather at noon and ten different people at night, we will not achieve anything substantial."
In the case of shopping centres, the Professor said that "we, on the basis of the epidemiological picture we are seeing now and given the fact that we were invited yesterday to prepare our proposal, felt that it would not be right to give the green light. Our role is of course advisory and that is what we have done."
On the proposal of the Holy Synod, Mr. Tsiotis made it clear that "nothing has been put before us to discuss it".
Everything, he said in conclusion, "we will see it when it comes before us and certainly in decision-making we also take into account the various social parameters. But it all depends on the epidemiological indicators that we will have before us at the moment."
