Coronavirus: Spike in cases postpones decision over relaxations (Updated)

Expectations that further relaxations of Covid measures would be announced on Wednesday were crushed after the cabinet postponed its decision following a spike in cases this week.

The plan was to allow gymnasium pupils back to school, open cafes and restaurants and extend the start of curfew from 9pm to 11pm as of March 16.

However, the announcement of 420 new cases on Tuesday has made the government skittish about further relaxations, at least until Friday.

The development, which has now left everything up in the air, came at the same moment that tourism appeared to be dealt a new setback. The sector was gearing up to be able to accept visitors from April 1, but only from vaccinated Israelis. It was also ready to accept British tourists from May 1 even though leisure travel from Britain is banned until May 17. However bookings were coming in for after that date.

But UK transport secretary Grant Shapps told Britons on Wednesday it was still too early for them to book a foreign summer holiday and to hold off on doing that until at least after April 12 when it would release a new report on travel. This new advice could cause some British to delay their decision though most who are eager to get away will likely still book and hope for the best for travel in June and after.

The government’s advisory team appears to be trying to strike a delicate balance – hospitalisations are currently their main concern – while also allowing some breathing room for the economy and a way to provide a pressure release for the beleaguered public.

According to Politis sources later Wednesday, the cabinet was looking at alternatives such as perhaps opening outdoor areas of restaurants and cafes or postponing openings altogether until to a later date.

More controversially, they are also considering the possibility of using testing as a means to allow establishments to open. Under this rule, patrons would have to presents a negative rapid test no older than 72 hours in order to dine out. The source said the only way this would work was if the test was made mandatory in the same way it now is for going to work. The source also said it was unlikely that the plan for gymnasium students to return to class on March 16 would be ditched.

“We need to evaluate the increasing admission in hospitals of younger patients who contracted the virus,” Constantinos Tsioutis, assistant professor of pathology at the European University specialising in infection control, told the Cyprus Mail on Wednesday.

Tsioutis, who is part of the government’s epidemiological team, said part of the reason the average age of hospitalisation was now lower can also be linked to the fact that older people had already received their Covid-19 vaccination.

“We need to see how severe the situation with the hospitalisation of younger patients is before easing some measures,” he said.

“We have monitored the increase in positive cases throughout the past two weeks, so by Friday we will have a clearer picture and we can announce the new measures according to the data we analysed,” he added.

Meanwhile, gym owners and personal trainers staged a protest in front of the Presidential Palace on Wednesday, demanding the complete reopening of their businesses during the next phase of relaxations.

They drove their cars from the GSP stadium in Nicosia to the presidential palace, where they hung the keys of their gyms to the railings in a symbolic gesture.

A delegation of protesters met the deputy government spokesman Panayiotis Senontas and asked him to prepare a protocol for the immediate reopening of gyms, due to the financial problems faced by them in the last year. They also called for additional financial support from the state.

“Our businesses are promotors of health, we contribute to society’s well-being,” Michalis Shekkeris, the representative of gym owners and personal trainers told journalists.

“We are calling on the government to clarify what exactly are the conditions required for gyms to reopen.

“Also, we think it would be fair to accept rapid negatives tests from trainers as a satisfactory proof for them to restart working,” he said.