Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou announced that Cyprus will start loosening COVID-19 lockdown restrictions as of February 1.
- Hair and beauty salons will reopen as of February 1
- Retail stores, shopping malls and elementary schools will reopen as of February 8
- Students in their final year of high school will return to in-person learning as of February 8
- Capacity at a place of public worship must not exceed 50 people
- As of February 8, people are allowed a maximum of 4 visitors in their homes at a time
Moreover, the twice-a-day movement remains in force.
To go out, permission must be requested by sending a text message to 8998.
Requests should be sent as a string of numbers in the following format: category (1-8), space, ID number, space, postal code (four-digit postal code).
Cyprus SMS for movement categories:
- Going to the pharmacy, visit a doctor, give blood or for a COVID test or for vaccination
- Going to a supermarket to buy essential products, goods and services (groceries, food)
- Going to the bank when electronic transactions are not possible
- Absolutely necessary visits to a government office
- Going out to help others who are in need of assistance or are in isolation, including those under quarantine
- Going out for physical exercise, in groups of up to two, in your neighborhood
- Attending a ceremony or service (funeral, wedding, baptism/christening) if guests are first or second degree relatives in groups of up to ten individuals
- Any other reason for going outside that can be justified under the measures as described in the latest decree on movement restrictions
Additionally, to ensure workplace safety, reopened businesses will be obligated to conduct rapid coronavirus tests to at least 20% of their staff.
Ioannou added that the plan is to vaccinate up to 100,000 people in Cyprus, including those over 80 and front-line health care workers, by the end of March.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 30,380 confirmed infections, with 193 deaths.
