Coronavirus: tourism industry, in letter to president, pleads for easing of restrictions

[Paphos Life]

The island???s tourism industry on Friday called for easing of restrictions on tourist arrivals, citing the low number of people found positive at the island???s airports....

Read the article and chat about it below...

[mike strand2]

That's hardly surprising as the restrictions are hitting their ability to make money (& employ people too)!

[Kili01]

Yes, one can see that the hotels just want more guests, but the present arrival system that new arrivals from Cat B countries are following, though tedious, may well be one of the reasons why visitors are producing smaller numbers of cases of covid 19. Without this attention to health the island might be going the way that Spain and Greece went with larger numbers of Covid brought in by visitors who weren't required to have a Covid test before flying there. But perhaps allowing 96 hrs before the flight here, instead of the present 72 Would make it easier for people to get tested?
Presently the number of cases of Covid in the UK are surging and most of the NE and NW of England are under various restrictions.
Cyprus must be very mindful of their present cases of Covid in Larnaca which seem to be linked with football team players and spread to their contacts. They are worried that this could lead to cases of the virus spreading to other towns and districts.

Dee

[kansas]

We have postponed our few nights stay in Protaras for mid-October because of the latest Covid figures in the area. We see no reason to put ourselves in harms way. It will be also be some time before we consider booking a flight anywhere.

[Devil]

Well I see it is the same problem all along you have a set of scales, on one side you put the economy and on the other public health, what is best ? Where is a sensible compromise ?

;It is not as simple as that. On the one hand, you have those who are promoting a maximum of economic activity and, on the other, you have those who are promoting a maximum of safety and health. The problem is that neither of them really stop there. By definition, those that promote a maximum of economic activity implies much more movement of personnel and, therefore, in the long term, a much increased risk of transmission of the disease. If this happens, then the economic activity will collapse anyway, so we are back at square one. But square one does not necessarily mean that the disease will not be transmitted to others. In my opinion, the only sensible path to take is to minimise, as much as humanly possible, any risk of the transmission of disease. When this is eradicated, then the economic activity can be stepped up with much less risk to the country as a whole.

[Dominic]

I read it was Larnaka.

[Yioula]

Cyprus has been 100% correct in their policy everyone has had a test before leaving the terminal building other Europeans countries opened their gates and our now almost back in the box .......

[PhotoLady]

How many of the new cases are from tourists entering Cyprus, does it provide you with those statistics?

[Dominic]

Surprisingly few. If you look at the daily report, it explains where they all come from.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/10/04/coro ... on-sunday/

[Kili01]

Probably the reason why there are only a small number of of tourists that actually test positive at the airports here is because they have already been tested for the virus and are neg before they actually board an aircraft to fly here...

Dee

[PhotoLady]

Can't really see that being the main reason but it certainly can help.
The tests pre-flight are taken 72hrs ahead of the departure time, it can take between 5 and 14 days to show its face plus unless the passenger self-isolates following the test there are unlimited chances of catching it. Especially from people on a flight who may be eligible for a test on arrival in Cyprus.

Perhaps there should be a local test between 5 and 10 days after arrival, just to cover all bases?

We could go test crazy?

[Dominic]

It's all a question of managing risk. Yes, people can get the virus in the 72 hours between their test and departure, but the risk is very small.

[mike strand2]

Someone asked me today when I thought the virus would be gone. I said I thought because of the fact that it exists in every part of the world: probably never! Just like the flu virus, it will mutate and we'll need a vaccine each year.

[angiexrd]

I will be travelling with a neg. result and Cert. but does anyone know, from the UK, are all passengers neg. test/certs checked when they land at Paphos

[galexinda]

I will be travelling with a neg. result and Cert. but does anyone know, from the UK, are all passengers neg. test/certs checked when they land at Paphos

From various comments on FB it appears document checks are made at the departure point and many passengers have just been 'waved through' on arrival in Cyprus if they have the test certificate. However worth noting some flights are chosen at random and all passengers are tested on arrival.

[mike strand2]

Obviously the pre flight tests are good up to a point, but todays numbers are 23:-
Two cases concern individuals from Athens who arrived on Saturday and Sunday; five cases arrived from the UK in four separate flights – East Midlands, Liverpool, London — on Sunday, two from Kiev, also Sunday, and one from Krakow.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/10/05/coro ... on-monday/