Coronavirus: Stiff fines for health and safety failures

A supermarket in Limassol was fined €4,000 for letting a customer in without a SafePass while four other businesses in the district were fined €1,500 each for not checking customers, police said on Thursday.

A business in the Famagusta area was also fined €4,000 for lacking the necessary signs.

Limassol has most bookings in the past 24 hours, after 12 individuals and six businesses were fined for flouting health and safety measures amid a huge surge of Covid infections.

Police said they reported 14 individuals and nine businesses across the Republic, mostly for not wearing protective masks and SafePass violations.

Of the 3,236 checks, 1,782 conducted in Nicosia without any infringements recorded.

In Limassol, police booked 12 individuals and six businesses, including a supermarket, which was fined €4,000. Four others were fined €1,500 each for SafePass violations, while a company was issued a €500 fine for the same reason, during 282 checks.

Officers in Larnaca, issued one fine during 348 checks, police said.

Paphos also recorded one booking in 92 checks while Famagusta had three bookings, including two businesses, during 445 checks.

In the Morphou area, police conducted 115 checks without any incidents. Traffic and marine police officers carried out 156 and 16 checks respectively without reporting anyone.

The Paphos case concerned an Internet café whose manager was caught without a mask or SafePass. There were no disinfectants at the computer terminals either, police said. The café was fined €500.