COVID19: Turkish Cypriot cases triple since travel ban eased

Authorities in the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus reported nine more COVID-19 cases with coronavirus infections spiking after it lifted travel restrictions on 1 July.

The Turkish Cypriot authorities have now reported 226 coronavirus cases after July 1 when the north opened up its ports of entry to travellers, arriving mainly from Turkey.

Before July 1, the case total stood at 105 now it has increased three-fold to 331 since the beginning of the outbreak.

Before opening up ports of entry, the north had seen a 75-day lull reporting zero cases since 17 April.

The resurgence of the virus begun on the first day the north opened its ports and initially lifting an obligatory quarantine for arrivals from Turkey.

Monday’s results take the total number of infections on both sides of the divide to 1,819 and 24 deaths.

Turkish Cypriots have been struggling to keep cases low as authorities in the north have been reporting more cases than the Republic over the past three days.

Turkish Cypriot authorities reported six and five cases on Sunday and Saturday compared to four and two in the south.

Republic of Cyprus health authorities on Monday confirmed just 1 new COVID-19 case bringing the total number of infections to 1,488 and 20 deaths.

The nine coronavirus cases in the north were confirmed on Monday evening by Ali Pilli, head of the Turkish Cypriot health authorities.

Pilli said the new cases involved two people arriving by air, and four by sea, without giving details of their nationality.

The other three cases all involved local infections.

They were identified after 1,749 tests were carried out on Monday with health authorities in the north focussing on people arriving on ferries and by air.

Passengers from Turkey are of particular concern as the country has reported a total of 270,133 cases and 6,370 deaths while daily cases in the first half of August were around 1400, up from an average of 1,000 in July.