Filenews 13 February 2021
Cyprus ranks first among the 27 European Union states, with 25,899 tests per 100,000 inhabitants (period 24 January to 7 February), according to recent data from the European Centre for Infection Control and Prevention (ECDC).
The Ministry of Health announces that having strengthened its effort since the beginning of the pandemic to early detection of positive incidents in the community, it focuses its attention on the examination of both the general population, with emphasis on workers, and the entrance gates.
In particular, and in the context of the strategy for the gradual and careful lifting of restrictive measures and following the recommendations of the relevant European Agencies, Cyprus implements a programme of employee control, both before their reactivation and thereafter with a weekly check. Through continuous surveillance of the epidemiological picture, achieved by carrying out mass checks, the aim is to reduce the likelihood of conflicts of cases in the community and in the workplace and early intervention there and where a need may arise.
At the same time, concern across Europe is intensifying due to new virus mutations detected in most European Union states, including Cyprus. The recommendations of the European Centre for Infection Control and Prevention (ECDC) focus on intensifying controls by exploiting mass controls, strict surveillance at the entrance gates and tracing case contacts.
The aim, according to ECDC, is to detect early detection of new mutations of sars-cov-2 virus, which appear to cause more aggressive transmission of the virus. In conjunction with the strategy of restrictive measures implemented by each State at national level, ECDC proposes to tighten laboratory controls at the entrance gates, as well as to thoroughly trace the contacts of cases detected by the tests in the community.
In Cyprus, a central pillar of the pandemic management strategy has been the tracing of case contacts from the outset. A total of around 73,000 contact traces were carried out, resulting in 17,408 cases, i.e. 54% of the total number of cases. During this period, due to a burden observed in Limassol Province (approximately 60% of cases in the last 14 days), it was decided that positive events should be traced in depth, by investigating not only primary, but also secondary.
Link to ECDC
Source: eyenews
