The public has largely responded to calls for blood donations, meaning available reserves should be back to normal next week, head of the blood bank Androula Panayiotou said on Saturday.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), she said there had been some urgent cases with multiple individuals injured which required them to be prioritised.

As a result, a small number of transfusions had to be postponed, for thalassemia patients.

Panayiotou said there was no ‘mass postponement’ of transfusions.

She added it was a common occurrence to have difficulties in having sufficient blood supply in the first few days of September, as people are coming back from vacation and getting ready for the new school year.

Nonetheless, the repeated pleas for urgent donations and the extended working hours garnered interest from the public. “We hope that after the donations over the weekend we can go back to normal,” she said.

On Saturday, the blood donation centre at Limassol’s old hospital remained open, as will the one in Larnaca. In Engomi it will stay open until 3pm.

According to Panayiotou, there will be blood donations available at mobile units in different villages on Sunday, and starting next week, the units will carry out donations in different parts of the country.