COVID19: New Cyprus case found from gym contact tracing

The single coronavirus case reported by Cyprus authorities on Sunday was discovered from the contact-tracing process linked to an earlier reported case from a gym, raising concerns that public health standards are not being kept.

The Ministry of Health said the new case was linked to the Covid-19 infected case discovered from a gym on Monday, the third such case as authorities relax social distancing measures in highly populated areas.

The new case raises the total to 1038.

On the other hand, as Cyprus gets closer to further relaxing measures for foreign arrivals as of August 1 in order to kick-start the tourism industry, especially for holidaymakers from Britain who account for a third of all tourists every year, authorities are also worried about the rise in imported infections tracked throughout the past two weeks.

On Saturday, Cyprus health authorities reported four new COVID-19 cases mostly involving people who recently arrived from abroad.

Three of the positive cases had a travel history while the fourth was a Cypriot who was referred by his doctor after developing coronavirus symptoms.

Among the three imported cases, one was detected during a random sample when arriving at the airport on a flight from Greece on Friday.

Another case involved a Serb national residing in Cyprus who arrived back in the country on July 10 and was tested by his employer before starting work.

The third imported case was an Egyptian national who was given special permission to enter Cyprus on 14 July to work on an oil rig.

Another case of concern has been the prevalence of coronavirus infections among football players returning to Cyprus to prepare for the new season that kicks off the last week of August, which will be played to empty stadiums for the time being.

At the same time, Cyprus is hesitant to add more countries to it’s A-list and B-list of destinations, from where arrivals are or will be allowed in accordance to the extent of pandemic infections in those countries, with the latest to be knocked off such ranking being Serbia.