The Minister of Health of Cyprus, Michalis Hadjipandelas, had an extensive discussion on the suggestions sent the previous days for the next steps and the measures that must be taken to deal with a new outbreak of the pandemic, this afternoon with the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee. for the coronavirus.
Speaking to media representatives after the meeting, Mr. Hadjipandelas, after thanking the members of the TEU for the suggestions they submitted, said that they have been recorded and will be presented before the Council of Ministers, where the final decisions are expected to be made next Wednesday. These suggestions, according to the Minister of Health, are:
– Use of a mask for primary school students.
– Carry out a rapid test on primary school students once a week.
– Prohibition of holding social events planned in anticipation of Christmas, including school Christmas holidays, Christmas events planned in Municipalities, etc.
– Carrying out self-test in vaccinated individuals. The suggestion that has been made is to be given free of charge to the vaccinated and in case any test is positive, the Personal Physician will be informed and will be referred to a molecular examination to confirm the result.
Abolish SafePass for those who do not receive the booster dose seven months after the start of the initial vaccination.
– Three-week time limit for vaccination of persons who have not received any vaccine dose and application and after three weeks application of restrictions in specific areas for non-vaccinated persons.
– Carry out rapid testing throughout the population in areas where case chains are detected, regardless of the vaccination history.
Teleworking at a rate to be determined.
As Mr. Hadjipandelas pointed out, “nothing has been locked”. The Council of Ministers will decide on Wednesday, after which it will be informed by the Minister of Health. In his turn, the head of the TEU, Dr. Konstantinos Tsiotis, stated that the meeting exchanged views and discussed the suggestions of all members of the TEU. Wanting to send his own message to the citizens, Mr. Tsioutis explained that “regardless of what will be decided on Wednesday, we must understand that we are entering a period, we have a very difficult period ahead of us with an increase in both daily broadcasts and hospitalizations. “I think we all know the ways to protect ourselves, we all have experience and knowledge, we all have to make some concessions in our daily lives to be safe.” He also stressed that in the run-up to the Christmas holidays the risk of being exposed to the virus is increasing and called on everyone to “remember what we need to do to prevent further deterioration”.
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