With Cyprus ready to open for tourists and do away with quarantine for COVID safe countries from 1 April, the government said it provided stability for tour operators and airlines to bring more visitors this summer. Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios told CNA that opening up to non-EU countries from 1 April provides stability the
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Cyprus’ hospitals are feeling the brunt of a steep increase in daily COVID-19 cases as they surged beyond the 400 barrier. Famagusta General, the COVID referral hospital, on Wednesday, said it was at 96% capacity, according to its medical director Dr Amalia Hadjiyianni. Hadjiyianni said that 72 patients were being treated at the hospital with
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Cyprus postponed announcing further lockdown relaxations on Wednesday given rising COVID-19 cases, hinting that opening up hospitality will be delayed as scientists fear a possible setback. The Cabinet postponed until Friday on taking final decisions on further easing lockdown measures with scientists warning that moving too fast would spell an epidemiological ‘disaster’. From March 16,
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Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender, aims to bring down its non-performing loan rate to a single digit by 2022, leaving behind the legacy problems of the 2013 financial crisis that shattered the banking sector. In an interview with CNA, Bank of Cyprus CEO Panicos Nicolaou said despite the uncertainty of coronavirus, the bank
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Cyprus will assume the first official Presidency of the Cairo-based Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) on January 2022, following Egypt’s inaugural term. It was decided at the fourth ministerial EMGF meeting in Cairo on Tuesday attended by Cyprus’ Energy Minister Natasa Pilides and her Egyptian, Greek, Israeli, Italian, Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts. They adopted its
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The government has come under fire from opposition parties over a decision to lay razor wire along a section of the UN-controlled ceasefire line to deter asylum seekers. It said the barbed wire is needed to stem migrant inflows from the Turkish-occupied north, but critics say the plan is “ineffective” and only feeds the fear
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The last of the high school students will probably return to their classrooms next Tuesday, as part of relaxing the latest COVID-19 lockdown measures, experts have suggested to the government that is expected to take a final decision on Wednesday. Relaxations to be announced on Wednesday noon, following a cabinet meeting, are also expected to
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By Niki Tsivitanou Terms like “non-performing loans”, “foreclosures”, “loan sales” entered our lives in the last decade as a result of the global financial crisis, as well as the one in Cyprus. Cyprus might have been in the spotlight because of the high percentage of non-performing loans, but the rise in defaults had also put
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Coronavirus infections set a new weekly record on Tuesday, topping 420 and past the 384 last Thursday, while hospital officials are warning that admissions have doubled from the beginning of the month. Tuesday was also the first anniversary of the initial two cases recorded on the island – a Cypriot man aged 25 who had
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Eleven people were fined for breaking COVID-19 restrictions, after being caught by police officers celebrating a birthday at a Limassol home with fireworks during lockdown. In total 21 people, eleven adults and 10 minors, aged between five and 10, were found celebrating the birthday of one of the children present on Monday evening. The partygoers
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