Cyprus Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou believes tighter restrictions to stem the spike in coronavirus have started to pay off with cases expected to drop in the coming days.
In comments to reporters at an unscheduled inspection of testing points in Limassol, Ioannou said despite cases jumping from to 228 on Tuesday, from 107 on Monday, authorities see the first signs of infections beginning to stabilise.
Ioannou said Wednesday: “There seems to be a stabilization which is being evaluated every day, and we hope in the coming days we will be seeing a decrease in (case) numbers, which will be an indication that the measures are working”.
A Health Ministry official told the Financial Mirror that the Minister based his estimates on the fact that authorities had conducted a record number of 8,887 tests on Tuesday, up from an average of close to 4,000.
“Thus, the ratio of positive cases found to the number of tests conducted is smaller,” said the ministry official.
The minister called for public support so that the lockdowns in Limassol and Paphos, the curfews and travel ban have the desired effect.
“We ask for the support of the public for these measures to work so that we can start easing restrictions as soon as possible”.
Ioannou excluded the possibility of lifting the lockdown early arguing that the measures need at least two weeks to produce results.
He also confirmed that clusters in other districts were identified through a rapid test scheme launched this week.
More than 4,000 rapid tests were carried out on Monday, and another 3,000 on Tuesday.
“This program is very important, and we urge the public to get tested so that we have a better indication of the epidemiological picture”.
On Monday, 50 people tested positive through the rapid testing scheme and another 46 people on Tuesday.
People identified as positive have been instructed to self-isolate pending a PCR test to confirm whether they have been infected or not with some results expected on Wednesday.
To combat the pandemic, Limassol and Paphos went on lockdown last week with an 8 pm to 5 am curfew and a travel ban with bars and restaurants also closing secondary schools continued lessons online.
