Filenews 4 January 2022 - by Andria Demetriou
A new reality prevails in the last two years in relation to the crossings at the barricades, since since the outbreak of the pandemic in Cyprus, brought their closure for several months, while now the crossings to and from the occupied territories are made with the presentation of SafePass. At the same time, the issuance of insurances for the passage of vehicles is now only done at the barricades, resulting in lengthy queues of vehicles. Although one of the most important reasons for the movement of Greek Cypriots to the occupied areas is for the supply of fuel, since the difference in prices is large, however for 2021, although the crossings increased, they did not reach the levels of the years before the pandemic.
More specifically, according to the data obtained by "F", the total crossings at the barricades for 2021 reached 1,209,037. The number of Greek Cypriots trafficked stood at 695,703 while the number of Turkish Cypriots stood at 513,335. Compared to 2020, traffic was quite high, reaching only 780,087, however, significantly reduced compared to 2019 when they reached 3,694,958 and was the year with the most crossings in the last five years.
More specifically, the barricade with the most crossings for 2021 was that of Agios Dometios where they amounted to 725,887, with Greek Cypriots amounting to 381,858 and Turkish Cypriots to 344,029. The second road barricade in the crossings is that of Astromeritis with 149,142 crossings and follow Deryneia with 118,257, Ledra Street with 114,461, Limnitis with 49,557, Ledra Palas with 43,154 and lastly Apliki-Lefka with 8,579 crossings.
It is recalled that after an evaluation of the situation with the cases in both the free and the occupied areas, the passages to and from the occupied areas are made upon presentation of either a rapid test or a 72-hour PCR for both vaccinated and unvaccinated. Specifically, fully vaccinated people can pass through the barricades with a negative rapid or PCR test of 7 days, from the 14th day after their second dose (1st dose if they have received a vaccine Johnson & Johnson), while for non-vaccinated people a negative rapid test or a 72-hour PCR will be required, with the exception of high school students and people living in Kato Pyrgos, who need a negative rapid or PCR test of 7 days.
