Paphos People

From In Cyprus

President Nicos Anastasiades on Sunday announced sweeping new measures to contain the spread of coronavirus that include suspension of the operation of private companies and a requirement that those still allowed to enter Cyprus present certificates that they have tested negative for coronavirus.

The entry requirement will come into force on March 16 and will be remain in force until April 30. All arrivals will be subject to mandatory 14 day quarantine at facilities selected by the state.

These were decided at an urgent meeting of the Council of Ministers on Sunday which also approved a €700m support package for the economy, workers as well as vulnerable groups.

Another €100m will go to boost the public health services.

There are 26 confirmed coronavirus cases in the Republic of Cyprus and another six in the Turkish-held north.

Speaking after the urgent meeting of the Council of Ministers, Anastasiades said that having reassessed the situation based on information from WHO and developments in Europe and in locally with the spread of coronavirus, cabinet had decided that Cyprus was facing an emergency and additional measures were needed.

These include:

As regards public health

Entry only to the Republic already limited to specific groups will henceforth also be subject to them presenting certificates from a credited public authority that they have tested negative for coronavirus. They will also be subject to mandatory 14 days quarantines in facilities of state. No one will be allowed in unless they fulfill the above, the president said.
Students who choose stay in their country of study will receive a €750 allowance
The above measures come into force at 6 pm tomorrow and will last until April 30.

The above applies for all all those crossing from checkpoints except for humanitarian reasons and subject to approval of the Minister of the Interior.

The president also announced €100 million to boost public health

He said the operation of private companies will be suspended while ministers have been authorized to come up with plans to operate under emergency conditions.

As regards private companies this means that as from tomorrow and for four weeks the operation of the following will close: malls, catering establishments, shops, recreation centres, museums, sports centres, theme park, cinemas etc.

Essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies, bakeries, petrol stations and kiosks and private health services will remain open. Arrangements will be announced for public transport. Restaurants that carry out delivery can remain open.

Anastasiades said that cabinet had also approved €700 m support for companies and workers which is equivalent to 3% of GDP.

More later

Now covered in the Cyprus Mail as well.

President Nicos Anastasiades said on Sunday Cyprus is facing a state of emergency as he announced further measures in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

As a first step, the cabinet on Sunday decided to ban entry to everyone without a health certificate from a recognised facility in their country of origin issued within the last four days.

This further tightens the partial entry ban to the country which was announced on Friday night, whereby Cyprus shut its borders for 15 days to all except Cypriots, Europeans working on the island and people with special permits in a precautionary move against coronavirus.

Those entering the country will be quarantined in reception centres. The conditions also apply to Turkish Cypriots crossing from the north.

The cabinet also decided to shutdown all private businesses like cafes.

Supermarkets, pharmacies, private health services, bakeries, kiosks, and petrol stations will remain open under certain conditions.

Students who choose to remain overseas will be subsidised by the state with €750.

The measures for students come into force on Monday at 6pm and will remain in place until April 30.

As part of the measures, it is expected that Arhcbishop Chrysostomos will call on people to avoid churches for three weeks.

The president also announced a €100m injection to boost the healthcare sector through the recruitment of more staff, acquisition of equipment, boosting the ambulance service.

Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides also announced a €700m stimulus package to assist the economy during this time.

The package includes reduction in VAT from 19 per cent to 17 per cent for two months and suspension of the rise in health contributions for two months.

A price ceiling will also be placed on products such as disinfectants, masks, soaps, and antibacterial gels to prevent profiteering.

Starting Tuesday, civil servants will work from home wherever possible while non-vital services will operated with skeleton staff.

SCAREMONGERING HEADING. Supermarkets, bakeries, petrol stations etc etc etc to remain OPEN

Both stories make it clear which ones will remain open. The heading came from the newspaper.

The government now also says that certain restaurants that offer a takeaway service will be able to remain open as well, although it is unclear as to whether that is just for takeaways or the eating in bit as well.

Thank you for altering the heading, it clearly wasn't right to leave it as it was.

Yes old twister agree,an old friend of mine a journalist once said to me when I questioned him about story he,d wrote said,,,,never let the truth spoil a good story

It really wasn't scaremongering. It was the headline from the paper, like I said before!

I note as well that the announcements don't say anything about the banks!

Updated list from Cyprus Mail.

From Monday, 16 March from 6 am for four weeks, the closure of the following businesses is mandatory:

Shopping Malls & Department Stores,
Cafes, cafes, bars and all catering companies with the exception of those that offer home delivery services,
Night clubs
Cinemas and theatres,
Libraries
Museums, archaeological and historical sites,
Gambling agencies, casinos, etc.,
Sports facilities, sports clubs, cultural groups and associations,
Theme parks (amusement parks, etc.),
Barber shops, hairdressers, beauty-massage centres.
As long as they observe strict hygiene rules, they may carry out administrative and other operations behind closed doors.

For reasons of health safety and health of the community, the following categories of enterprises remain open:

Food retailing (e.g. supermarkets must ensure there are no more than one person per 8 m2);
Pharmacies
Private health services (clinical laboratories),
Markets
Bakeries and confectioneries (no table seats),
Gas stations
Retailers which do not fall under the category of suspension of their operations can continue their work by ensuring that there are no more than five workers in the workplace.
All other companies that are not mentioned in the above categories can continue to operate, as long as they strictly adhere to the hygiene and staff protection rules.

Hotels will suspend operations until 30 April 2020. To serve existing customers, they may continue their operation for a period of six days from today.

With regard to the public service by private, public and wider public sector enterprises, it is strictly stated that the presence of persons in the service area should not exceed one person per 8 square metres.

Arrangements regarding public transport will be announced within the day by the competent Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works.

Well we all know what needs to be done now

Tough moves for tough times

The only fly in the ointment is when everyone has been through these next 4 weeks and got the virus back under control
How do we then keep the virus out from other countries that have not got above the virus?
As they fly back in to Cyprus?

I fail to see how the one customer per 8 square metres is going to work. Surely if there are too many people wanting to shop, the ones that aren't allowed in will have to queue outside, in much closer proximity than when they get in. Can't see how that is going to help.

I can,t help wonder if that is a typo
And they mean 2 square metres

Guess we will all find out in our next weekly shop

I wondered that too, but it appears in various places, such as other shops that open have to abide by the 8 square metres rules.

I could be wrong but I think they mean that if, your example, your premises are 80 square metres, you can have have 10 customers (or presumably fewer depending on how many staff - up to the maximum of 5) in the shop, rather than they each need to keep that distance amount of distance between them.

It is a bit confusing ...suppose all will become clear over the next few days

I think this is a good idea from Australia

"Australian supermarket Woolworths will hold an elderly and disabled-only shopping hour, after panic buying in recent weeks saw shelves stripped bare.

Most of its supermarkets will open only to those groups from 07:00 - 08:00, starting Tuesday.

The supermarket said the move was prompted by "an unprecedented demand in supermarkets, which has seen many elderly and vulnerable missing out on vital items they may need when they shop".

_________________
Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Not a bad idea...though hopefully panic buying won,t be so bad here

There was none in Paps last Friday

Stay safe all

I did my usual Monday morning shop for the week this morning.
Papantoniou Chlorakas - very quiet, and as one of the things I buy regularly are dates, it was interesting they had already bagged these to save handling.
Papantoniou Paphos - again very quiet with no sign of panic buying
Lidl Paphos - fairly busy and some people were buying extra stuff. What is this obsession with toilet rolls? No real shortages noticed, apart from eggs. I guess that will be temporary.
Sklavenitis - I buy my bread here, and not only were there no obvious shortages, or large numbers of extra customers, the bread was on special offer.
Ikoagora - several people waiting for them to open. Stock was a little low. I guess the bacon man didn't visit last week or it was all snapped up by weekend. Toilet paper seems ever popular here also
Hellenic Bank - Lots of people outside. It appears they are restricting the numbers allowed in at a time. My visit wasn't that important and can wait until the panic is over.

I drove past the Post Office in Anavargos earlier and there must have been 30 people queuing outside, waiting to be allowed in. A few were wearing masks, but they were mostly standing shoulder to shoulder!