Filenews 2 April 2022
The European Union is supporting Cyprus with concrete recovery actions aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic, according to a press release issued by the House of the European Union.
According to the press release, so far, 22 EU countries have been given the green light to use EU funds for recovery and resilience to strengthen their economies and help recover from COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the European Commission has launched a comprehensive and ambitious recovery plan. The Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) programme provides additional funding in areas that are vital to lay the foundations for a healthy and rapid recovery. REACT-EU continues and expands its previous Investment Initiative measures to tackle the coronavirus. These measures aim to help citizens and businesses and mitigate the significant economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, he added.
More specifically, the project concerns the response to the coronavirus pandemic in Cyprus and the actions implemented by the Cypriot government. The aim is to strengthen and protect the General Health System and state hospitals in order to respond adequately to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the aim is to strengthen the prevention and detection of the virus and to prevent its spread and consequently to protect public health in Cyprus.
In relation to vaccinations, it is noted that by Wednesday, March 23, 2022, a total of 1,762,121 doses had been performed, of which 665,045 are for 1st doses, 641,853 2nd doses and 455,223 booster doses. The percentage of the total population vaccinated with at least one dose is 75.4% and a percentage that essentially completed their vaccination regimen is 72.4%, the press release says.
In addition, the actions that will be implemented within the framework of this project include the reinforcement of state hospitals, both with technological equipment, such as ventilators, monitoring screens, as well as with the appropriate protective equipment for doctors and nurses, the purchase of medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and the purchase of reagents and other consumables related to molecular tests.
It is noted that the Government of Cyprus acted in a timely manner to take measures to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus ensuring that the economy returns as quickly as possible to the path of economic growth.
In the context of the efforts to enhance transparency, the Ministry of Health informs that following an audit of operations carried out by the Internal Audit Service of the Republic at the Ministry of Health, as the beneficiary of the project "Actions to address the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease" within the framework of the Operational Programme "Employment, Human Resources and Social Cohesion", no findings were identified and the audit was successfully completed.
Specifically, total expenditure of €28,628,702.88 declared to the European Commission for the accounting year 01/07/2020 – 30/06/2021 for this project and expenses of €13,191,152.42 were audited by KPMG Ltd without identifying ineligible costs, the press release points out.
The remaining expenses of €15,437,550.46 related to the purchase of vaccines and medicines were audited by the Internal Audit Service of the Republic of Cyprus without also identifying ineligible costs.
Cyprus is following the objectives of vaccination strategies against COVID-19 in line with the guidelines of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), concludes the press release.
Source: CNA
