Categorisation of activities to be examined by Cabinet

The categorisation of various activities according to their level of seriousness as regards COVID-19 will be examined during the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, according to Dr. Petros Karayiannis, member of the Health Ministry’s Advisory Scientific Committee.

He told CNA that after two phases of relaxation of measures, an amount of time is necessary to see what repercussions these will have on the country’s epidemiological picture.

Dr. Karayiannis who is also Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School, reminded that the relaxation of measures started on Monday and the relevant protocol will be valid for the next ten days in areas where dancing will be allowed.

From next Monday, he added, the airports will operate under different circumstances as regards passenger arrivals, where no PCR testing will be required upon arrival if they are fully vaccinated. “Therefore, we will have two phases of great relaxation of measures in a short period of time and we will need to give it some time to see what repercussions this will have on the epidemiological picture,” he told CNA.

This is why the current measures will be valid until 15th March and in the meantime, we will start discussing new possible relaxation of measures, provided that the epidemiological situation allows it, he added.

Invited to clarify the new relaxations, he said these will be in the form of categorisation of activities, depending on their level of danger as regards COVID and what will be required for entry into these areas. He said there is an effort to simplify procedures and to include them in a list that will serve as a point of reference for citizens and employers and anyone else. This, he added, will probably be discussed at the Council of Ministers on Thursday, when it will come into effect.

Currently, he added, we still have a high number of cases on a daily basis.

Dr. Karayiannis pointed out that the hard indicators which the experts are taking into account are hospitalisations and intubations, which have decreased in the last three to four weeks. I think that if we continue to have Omicron in the community, which seems to have prevailed to a large extent, those who will need hospitalisation will be a relatively limited number of patients,” he added.

Asked if there is a possibility to return to measures in the future, Dr. Karayiannis said he believes the situation will be manageable, “unless, off course, with our own behaviour we significantly aggravate it”.

He said he does not see a return, so to speak, to measures, therefore we must help the situation and implement self-protection measures, something that has been removed in other countries now facing COVID outbreaks. If we act responsibly in the coming period, that is in the next two to three weeks, there will be further relaxation of measures and we will be more carefree by the end of March, he added.