Coronavirus: Greece-Cyprus mull jab certificates for travellers

Tourism-dependent Greece and Cyprus discussed requesting vaccination certificates from travellers arriving in the two countries, Greek Prime Minister Kyriacos Mitsotakis said on Monday, following a meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades in Nicosia.

“We also discussed the matter of the vaccination certificate, how we can facilitate Europeans, as well as others, world travellers who would want to visit Greece and Cyprus,” Mitsotakis said. “And this is what we are asking from the EU, for the process to be standardised and easy, to have the vaccination certificate as proof, to facilitate return to basic normality as regards tourism in the summer.”

Cyprus was among the first countries to request a negative Covid test from travellers in a bid to keep the virus in check last year.

The Greek prime minister said Greece and Cyprus have managed to do better in tackling the Covid pandemic than other European countries but were hampered by the shortage of vaccines.

“Greece and Cyprus would have been ready today to administer loads more vaccines. We have the operational capability to achieve it,” Mitsotakis said, but they did not have enough jabs at their disposal.

The two countries have emphasised at European level, the need for vaccines to be supplied as soon as possible, as they battled with time and a virus that mutated continuously, he said.

Mitsotakis voiced certainty that the shortages would be resolved in the next months, enabling the two countries to speed up vaccinations and be better prepared in the summer.