Cyprus imposes further restrictions on travelers from UK

NICOSIA: Cyprus’ new restrictions on travel from the United Kingdom (UK) came hurriedly into force on Saturday after a rapid spread of Omicron variant infections related to that country, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that the measures were due to the rapid increase in cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in the UK. Ministry sources said that health officials were forced to act without a prior announcement as they were worried over the possibility of a large number of Omicron cases among Cypriot university students and UK Cypriots who arrive for the Christmas and New Year Holidays.

The statement said that all passengers over 12 years of age who arrive from the UK, and irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to stay in strict self-isolation in their residence until the result of an airport PCR test for the coronavirus is issued.

All UK passengers will be given a self-test package of five units for the purpose of making a self-test on five consecutive days in case their airport test was negative.

The measures were introduced after the Health Ministry announced on Friday a surge of Omicron infections, saying that 33 of them were related to a group of secondary school children and teachers who returned on Dec. 1 from an educational visit to Glasgow, Scotland.