COVID19: Record requests for essential trips during Easter

More Cypriots requested SMS text approval to venture outside their homes for buying basic goods and physical exercise over the Easter weekend, while requests on Sunday fell below the+ normal.

According to data, CNA obtained from the Deputy Ministry for Innovation before Easter on average, 200,000 to 230,000 valid text requests were sent daily as required under social distancing laws.

The majority of essential requests were for food shopping or for physical exercise – only one such request is allowed per day, per person.

The number of valid requests sent on Good Friday were 280,828 of which 271,233 were approved. On aster Saturday 298,185 requests were sent, 287,638 of which were approved.

Half of them were requests to go out for the purchase of basic goods.

On Easter Sunday, requests dropped to 173,049 of which 168,018 were approved.

The number of requests for the movement of people on Monday was 215,524 of which 209,555 were approved.

About 1,000 requests were approved per day through the automated IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system for people with foreign telephone numbers and those who for some reason were unable to receive approval via SMS.

To contain the COVID-19 outbreak, Cyprus has introduced strict measures limiting free movement while daily a curfew is imposed between 2100 and 0600 hours.