Scientific committee drops Covid-19 from name as safety discussed

The Scientific committee for the monitoring of Covid-19 disease has been renamed as the Advisory scientific committee following its meeting on Tuesday.

In addition, the meeting saw information provided regarding the existing measures in place to limit the spread of Covid-19 in Cyprus, while committee members also discussed vaccination coverage against Covid-19 and influenza.

Vaccines have already been ordered for the next wave of vaccinations, with the programme set to begin in October. Both Covid-19 and influenza vaccines will be administered at designated vaccination centres, will the influenza vaccine will also be available from GPs.

The committee also discussed the roadmap for maintaining Covid-19 preparedness.

Health Minister Popi Kanari said “each committee member will undertake specific tasks based on their expertise” and added that the number of committee members has “decreased significantly”.

“The goal is to make the committee as flexible and direct as possible to be able to deal with a potential health crisis in an immediate and efficient manner,” she added.

Additionally, she said the “epidemiological picture” is the same in Cyprus as it is in Europe but noted that there had been a small increase in Covid-19 cases of late.

She was quick to assert, however, that “this does not worry us as there is no corresponding increase in hospital admissions.

“In any case, we follow the recommendations of the European centre for disease prevention and control (ECDC) and the World Health organization and are ready in case the epidemiological picture changes or further recommendations are published,” she said.

She also confirmed that “recommendations” have been sent to schools for measures to be taken in the new academic year.