Coronavirus: Expert says August 15 holiday a cause for concern

One of the government’s scientific advisory team has said he is concerned over mass gatherings during the upcoming August 15 holidays and advised people to be careful in overcrowded places.

Talking to CNA on Tuesday Petros Karayiannis, professor of microbiology and molecular virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School, urged people to adhere to all the measures in place to contain Covid-19, pointing out that everyone must follow all the rules and be cautious during the holidays.

“Many people are on their annual leave during August and especially this week, therefore everyone needs to be careful. We may see a rise in coronavirus cases during these days,” he said.

Karayiannis said that the trend of new cases is unclear as many people are on vacation and therefore might not go for rapid tests, but he added the dropping number of hospitalisations indicated a downward trend.

“The number of deaths goes up because most of the hospitalised patients are not vaccinated or have other underlying conditions. We expect that by the end of August 80-82 per cent of the population will be vaccinated with the first dose.”

On Monday Cyprus reported three deaths from Covid-19 and 446 new cases while 278 people were in the hospitals.