On 9 March 2020, Cyprus confirmed its first two cases: a 25-year-old man from Limassol who had returned from Italy and a 64-year-old health professional from Nicosia who had returned from the UK.
On 11 March, Cyprus confirmed four more cases: two Greek Cypriots who returned from the UK the day before and one taxi driver from Paphos, whose grandson was also hospitalised. All three men were taken to Famagusta General Hospital. The fourth case was in self-isolation at home.
On 12 March, four new cases were confirmed: a person who had travelled to the UK and contacted the authorities after developing symptoms, a person who had returned from Italy, a person with symptoms after returning from Greece, and an individual returning from Germany with no symptoms.
On 13 March, 11 new cases were confirmed. PresidentNicos Anastasiades, in a special appearance, announced the closing of all borders except for nationals for 15 days from 15 March.
On 21 March, the first death was confirmed.
On 25 March, 8 new cases were confirmed.
On 26 March, 14 new cases were confirmed.
On 27 March, 16 new cases and two deaths were confirmed.
On 3 April, 40 new cases and one death were confirmed.
On 20 April, 5 new cases were confirmed, two patients recovered.
On 21 April, 12 new cases were confirmed.
On 22 April, 6 new cases were confirmed, one death and one patient recovered.
On 23 April, 5 new cases were confirmed and 1 patient recovered. A total of 148 people have recovered, according to the Ministry of Health.
On 27 April, 5 new cases were confirmed and 1 person died.
On 30 April, 7 new cases were confirmed. According to the updated statistics released by the Ministry of Health, a total of 296 people have recovered.
In early May, repatriation flights for Cypriots and legal Cypriot residents in the UK began; upon arrival, all those coming back into the country are required to spend at least two weeks in quarantine at certain hotels which have been designated and funded by the government.
On 16 May, a few days after some students had returned to school as part of the easing of restrictions, 4 new cases were confirmed in students and staff members.
On 21 May, the lockdown ended and repatriation flights continued, although those coming back to the country no longer have to be quarantined for two weeks. The government also announced that airports will reopen fully on 9 June, though flights from countries heavily affected by the virus—most notably the UK and Russia, from where Cyprus' two biggest tourist groups come—will not be permitted until further notice.
Health minister Constantinos Ioannou said that Cyprus would not lift entry restrictions on large markets like Russia and Britain, despite pressure from local businesses, unless it were safe to do so. Ioannou said that it would not be possible to implement mass testing to screen all passengers from high-risk countries upon their arrival in Cyprus because quarantine facilities and hospitals would not be able to accommodate the expected number of positive persons. By late July, Cyprus had reported that most of the new cases in the island have been related to travelers. The current estimates for August tourist arrivals is 18% of the previous years arrivals, but some local businesses believe that even these estimates are optimistic due to uncertainty over lifting restrictions on British arrivals.
Entry restrictions
Cyprus has assessed Schengen area and other countries based on factors like the number of new diagnoses and mortality rates per 100,000 inhabitants to determine whether arrivals from those countries will be quarantined or otherwise restricted in their entry to Cyprus. The Category A countries are considered low risk. Arrivals from Category A countries, including some non-European countries like Japan, Canada and South Korea, did not have any restrictions placed on their entry. Category B countries were considered more uncertain than Category A and included France, Spain, and Italy. Passengers arriving from Category B countries are required to undergo a health examination upon arrival and self-quarantine until the results are known. The Category B restrictions apply to citizens and permanent residents of Cyprus. Category C countries are considered an increased risk and entry is restricted unless certain conditions are met. They can take a COVID_19 test upon arrival, or to present a current RT-PCR certificate proving negative test results.
