Updates from Cyprus
Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, 31st October and clocks should be set back one hour.
At 04.00 hours local time clocks will turn back to 03.00 hours.
In EU countries winter time starts on the last Sunday of October and lasts until the last Sunday of March the following year.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
Cyprus Minister of the Interior, Nikos Nouris, has said that there’s a deterioration in the issue of migration flows, especially in October, when they exceeded 1,800 people in a month, with the vast majority of them arriving illegally from the Green Line.
Speaking after a memorial service for the heroes of Neo Chorio Pafos community, Nouris said that all these immigrants were assisted by Turkey since the flows come through the occupied territories of Cyprus, through Turkey. At the same time, he expressed his concern over the fact that the profile of the immigrants has changed, as there’s a large number of arrivals from sub-Saharan Africa, which as he said was an additional problem.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
President of the Cyprus House of Representatives, Annita Demetriou, will pay an official visit to Belgrade, starting on Sunday, at the invitation of the Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, Ivica Dacic.
According to a Parliament’s press release, during her stay in Belgrade, the President of the Parliament, in addition to her meeting with her Serbian counterpart, will be received by the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, and the Patriarch of Serbia, Porphyrios.
She will also have meetings with the country`s Foreign Minister, Nikola Selakovic, who will host a working lunch in her honor and with the Minister of Youth and Sports, Vanja Udovicic.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
Cyprus police fined during the last 24 hours 25 citizens and 3 establishment owners for violating the measures aiming to contain the spread of COVID-19.
A police spokesperson told CNA that a total of 3,721 checks were carried out and most citizens were reported for not wearing protective face masks when visiting public places.
In Nicosia 1,271 checks were carried out and no one was reported.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
Cyprus Health Ministry announced on Saturday that three more COVID-19 patients died, and therefore the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 574.
Moreover, 155 new coronavirus cases were traced, with the positivity rate standing at 0.33%. The total number of cases is 124,332. Fifty-eight COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, 21 of them in a critical condition. A percentage of 63.8% of those hospitalized have not been vaccinated.
Five post-COVID patients, who have ceased to be contagious, are hospitalized in a critical condition in Intensive Treatment Units and are intubated.
A total of 46.597 tests were carried out using the PCR method (3,682) and antigen rapid tests (42,915).
All three patients who died on Saturday are men – 73, 75 and 81 years old – and passed away in Nicosia General Hospital Intensive Treatment Unit.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Cyprus, Leondios Kostrikis, said that the current increase in COVID-19 cases in Cyprus was probably due to Delta plus mutation, adding that the first two cases of the new mutation have been found in Cyprus.
Speaking to CNA Kostrikis, who was the keynote speaker at a lecture in Geroskipou, said that there’s a small increase in cases probably due to the new mutation. He said that they will look into this next week when they will have the opportunity to study the sequences of infections from the first week of October until the end of the month.
Source: Cyprus News Agency