Paphos Life

Looking at the virus figures in Cyprus I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the figures for Paphos have increased from 1/2 to 10/12 per day since we have seen an increase in visitors at the airports, today Paphos had the highest number of positive cases against the number of tests on the island, every day there 6/8 positive cases at the two airports and that just from the random tests, how many positive cases are about in Paphos from planes that weren’t tested.

Well eldest son came over 5/6 weeks ago and granddaughter 3 weeks ago both double vaccinated both said they saw no sign of any testing on their flights, I did read somewhere that it was random testing of flights, I don’t know whether this is true or not.

Sheer Khan wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:53 am Well eldest son came over 5/6 weeks ago and granddaughter 3 weeks ago both double vaccinated both said they saw no sign of any testing on their flights, I did read somewhere that it was random testing of flights, I don’t know whether this is true or not.

Yes it’s true, the whole plane is randomly tested rather than individuals

Sadie wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:50 am

Sheer Khan wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:53 am Well eldest son came over 5/6 weeks ago and granddaughter 3 weeks ago both double vaccinated both said they saw no sign of any testing on their flights, I did read somewhere that it was random testing of flights, I don’t know whether this is true or not.

Yes it’s true, the whole plane is randomly tested rather than individuals

Even those who are vaccinated? I arrived in LCA 6 weeks ago and none of those vaccinated were.

We came back last week on a full flight over 250 people all seats taken,in Bimingham Airport very few masks worn then we were packed on the bus to the plane with no room to spare ,no covid tests were carried out,on landing in Paphos we were caught in the biggest queue I've ever seen for passport control ,again no social distancing whatsoever ,coupled with all I mentioned and hardly anybody wearing a mask and social distancing an utter joke in UK no wonder Covid is on the rise

The latest positivity for the whole island was 0.29%. Paphos' positivity currently stands at 0.62%

Both these figures are way below what they used to be. For most of the year, Paphos was lower than the rest of the island.

but every passenger needs the Cyprus Flight Pass to enter Cyprus.

We're off on our travels later today for the first time since September last year.
We've had to complete a health declaration, similar to the UK PLF which couldn't be filled more than 48hrs before arrival in the destination country.
Vaccine records paperwork is at hand.
LFT tests proof of purchase for the return flight and there will be another 4 page form to complete 48hrs before the flight lands in UK.

The EU Vaccine Passport is fully up and running now and those not vaccinated have to submit a negative test result before boarding from their originating country.

This is why not everyone is being tested on arrival unless they arrive from specific destinations which are on the country of arrival risk lists. These will still change as Covid progresses it's course.

There are several positive tests every day at the two airports, it used to say which country they were from now it doesnt, Paphos was the lowest a few months ago but not now.

Sheer Khan wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 11:21 am There are several positive tests every day at the two airports, it used to say which country they were from now it doesnt, Paphos was the lowest a few months ago but not now.

So, what's the solution?
Bearing in mind you are in a tourist destination.

You can prove, or interpret, the daily stats in a number of ways. I’ve been keeping a tally of the daily numbers for a few months now in a spreadsheet that then calculates, rolling 14 and 7 day cumulative totals, averages, % testing positive and averages per 100k of population using g the same logic as the ECDC in its weekly status reports.

The current 14 day average testing positive is 0.30% compared to 0.22 on 30/09, 0.68% on 30/08 and 1.61% in mid July. So you can say things are a bit worse than a month ago or way better than 3 months ago. Depends on what spin you want to put on things.

You also have to consider the context - we still have one of the highest testing rates, 7th globally according to Worldometers and way ahead of most of Europe based on latest ECDC data. Test. Ore and you’ll find more.

My own perspective is that if you look at the increased numbers of interactions, massive uplift in tourist arrivals and many ore of us socially interacting and shopping much more like normal, the fact that the 14 day rolling average % positive is now around 1/5th of what is was in July as were starting to get more like normal, I see as a positive Indicator for the time being. As I said though, all down to what numbers are presented, how they are presented and how you wish to interpret them.

Ian