One "black" record follows another... Omicron mutation is "sinking" Cyprus which now counts thousands of cases every day
Nearly 4 thousand cases announced yesterday by the Ministry of Health. Thousands of contacts... unspecified number of contacts, almost every house and one case of case or contact, chains of transmission in workplaces and businesses.
2022 with a new package of measures
The Government is pinning all its hopes on the exceptional measures, some of which came into force yesterday, while Michael Hadjipandela is already preparing for new, more stringent ones, to be decided at the meeting on Tuesday 4 January between the Minister of Health and the Scientific Advisory Committee.
The measures seem to affect the Epiphany perhaps also the presence of the public at the consecration of the waters, but this is something that will be discussed between the President and the Archbishop if necessary.
It seems that the new package of measures will not be without a reduction in the number of people for meetings in homes this time, and it is possible that the telecommuting rate will be increased to 50% from the current 40%.
No one wants a lockdown but
The Health Minister rejects a lockdown scenario, while the Government Spokesman does not rule it out if the situation escalates further.
Asked whether the suggestion of a lockdown was on the table at Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, Marios Pelekanos made it clear that such a thing had not been discussed. "But we will have to say with the cases we have and if we see an increase in hospitalisations and depending on the recommendations of the scientific team we cannot rule out anything" he said.
The focus is on entertainment venues and people aged 20 to 40
The measures taken were targeted, with no attempt to disrupt society and the economy, but will be re-evaluated early next week, without ruling out additional regulations, said the Head of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Constantinos Tsioutis.
He also said thatchains of transmission were found in leisure and catering venues in mostly 20-40 year olds who probably had no or few symptoms, so they detected the virus late and thus had had time to spread it to their environment.
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