COVID19: Health Minister irate at ‘dangerous’ rule-breakers

Cyprus Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou was furious after two people infected with COVID-19 flouted social distancing rules with one case involving a birthday party and the other a nursing home.

A woman who tested positive was found to be living in a care home for elderly people in Nicosia without taking precautionary measures, such as wearing a face mask which is obligatory in such places.

The woman, according to the health minister’s Facebook post on Wednesday, is a domestic helper employed by the owner of the nursing home.

She had been sent to temporarily live at the care home while the owner was renovating his house.

According to a Health Ministry announcement, the staff at the care home are currently being tested and the area deep cleaned while contact tracing is underway in both cases.

The second incident was one of the 15 new cases announced on Tuesday. It involved a restaurant owner who organised a birthday party for his 93-year-old father in Pyrgos, Limassol.

Reportedly, a large number of relatives attended in violation of government lockdown restrictions.

The man is asymptomatic and was only identified through a test carried out by a private lab.

“Such behaviour seriously endangers public health and the sacrifices made by society, this is unacceptable,” Ioannou said in a tweet.

He has forwarded the cases to the police and the Labour Ministry urging those responsible for breaking the law to be prosecuted.