Month: April 2022

More than 900 people aged 60 and over were vaccinated with the fourth dose against COVID-19 on Tuesday, the Health Ministry’s spokesperson, Constantinos Athanasiou, told the Cyprus News Agency on Wednesday.

Furthermore, Athanasiou noted that since March 30, 2022, when the 4th dose for people over 70, for people who live or work in nursing homes and closed structures and for the immunodeficient or immunosuppressed patients began, more than eight thousand people have been vaccinated.

According to Athanassiou, the 4th dose of the coronavirus vaccine has been administered from March 30 until yesterday to 8,211 people, while on Tuesday, when the 4th dose to people over 60 years was made available, a total of 911 people were vaccinated.

Asked about the situation of the pandemic so far, Athanasiou said that there is a drop in new cases, as well as in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.

He noted, moreover, that 74.1% of the general population has been fully vaccinated so far.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The first Cyprus-Germany joint operation for the return of Pakistani nationals illegally residing in the Republic of Cyprus was carried out on Tuesday, with the contribution of FRONTEX, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Interior.

It is reported that, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the Police, Cyprus participated in this first joint operation, which repatriated a small number of Pakistani citizens.

It is stressed that the participation of Cyprus, which is assessed as extremely important and creates prospects for further returns, was a result of the recent agreement of the Minister of Interior, Nicos Nouris, with his German counterpart and the contribution of the German Ambassador to Cyprus.

It is noted that Cyprus has already agreed with a number of other European countries, such as France and Belgium, with the aim of conducting joint return operations, with an emphasis on the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Cyprus Karate Federation will host the World Karate Youth League Championship in Limassol for young people aged 12-17 years old.

In a press release the federation said the event that will start on Friday 29 April and will end on Sunday 1 May, bringing to Cyprus more than 1,500 athletes from 51 countries, accompanied by 414 coaches and a large number of parents and friends of the sport.

At the same time, 77 referees will also visit the island for the needs of the World Championship.

It is noted that the World Youth League Championship is held for the third year in Cyprus. The aim of the Cyprus Karate Federation is to satisfy the needs of athletes and coaches who will take part in the event and the officials who will be in Limassol, in the presence of the WKF President Antonio Espinos, the Federation’s Vice President Gunar Nordahl and the Board member Davide Benetello.

The World Youth League Championships are held in four countries every year (Mexico, Cyprus, Croatia and Italy in 2022), while all 205 WKF member federations seek to organise it.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Total sales of petroleum products amounted to 119,870 tonnes in March 2022, recording an annual rise of 10.5% and of 23.5% in the first quarter of this year, according to data released Tuesday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

In particular, according to the official data, an increase was observed in the provisions of aviation kerosene (297.3%), as well as in the sales of kerosene (61.9%), heating gasoil (54.9%), liquefied petroleum gases (40.5%), heavy fuel oil (39.5%) and motor gasoline (5.6%). On the contrary, a decrease was recorded in the sales of asphalt (-50.5%), light fuel oil (-26.1%), road diesel (-3.9%) as well as in the provisions of marine gasoil (-7.7%). As far as the sales from filling stations are specifically concerned, these have registered an increase of 7.2% to 59,566 tonnes.

The total sales of petroleum products in March 2022 compared to February 2022 recorded an increase of 3.4%. Indicatively, the provisions of aviation kerosene rose by 45.2%, the sales of motor gasoline by 13.5% and those of road diesel by 10.3%. The total stocks of petroleum products at the end of March 2022 fell by 28.6% compared to the end of the previous month.

During the period January – March 2022, the total sales of petroleum products increased by 23.5% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

A Resurrection Service will be conducted on Wednesday, 27 April at Turkish occupied Ayia Triada village.

In a press release, the Ayia Triada community council said the service will be conducted at 0700 on Wednesday at the occupied church by Archimandrite Isaak of Limassol Bishopric, who comes from Ayia Triada.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

A hiking and nature activities programme, which includes hiking tours, led by experienced tourist guides is offered by the Cyprus Tourism Deputy Ministry.

“The selected trails wend their way through sprawling forests and plains, breathtaking hills, astounding terrain, colourful villages, captivating shorelines and lush meadows. This program is suitable for experienced hikers and enthusiasts,” a press release published in the heartlandoflegends website says.

Most of the trails have been marked as being of “high difficulty” and have great elevation changes therefore participants willneed a good bit of endurance and proper gear, such as durable boots, trekking poles, hat, sunscreen, snacks and plenty of water.

It is further clarified that no transportation will be provided therefore, all participants are required to be at the designated meeting point on time.

List of hiking and nature activities

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27/04/2022

Body and spirit connection with nature through stretching, breathing and relaxation exercises. – Stavros tou Agiasmati picnic site (spaces limited)

27/04/2022

A guided hike connecting the two listed UNESCO World Heritage sites, Panagia tou Araka (1192 AD) and Stavros tou Agiasmati (1494 AD)

30/4/2022

A guided geology tour in the Troodos UNESCO Geopark Visitors Centre in the Amiantos old asbestos mine, a visit and tour of the Troodos «?.G. Leventis» Botanical Garden and short nearby hike in beautiful surroundings.

8/5/2022

Guided tour of the Troodos Environmental Centre in Troodos Square and environmental hike on “Persephone” trail – option for long/short loop

15/5/2022

Guided tour of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Monument of Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis in Kakopetria village and hike the “Kannoures – Agios Nikolaos” trail

Interested parties may reserve a place here.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The final plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe will be held from 29-30 April in Strasbourg to finalise its proposals.

A European Parliament press release said following two sessions (in late March and early April) during which it discussed draft documents tabled by the nine Working Groups, the Conference Plenary is set to approve its final set of proposals. These will be adopted on a consensual basis. The Plenary meeting on Saturday will revolve around feedback from citizens’ representatives and their positions on the proposals.

The proposals cover the themes of health, European democracy, migration, values and rights, rule of law, security, education, culture, youth, stronger economy, social justice and jobs, climate change and the environment, EU in the World, digital transformation.

The Plenary’s draft proposals have been based on the recommendations made by the European Citizens’ Panels, input from national panels, and ideas gathered through the Multilingual Digital Platform, as well as the exchanges held during previous Conference Plenary sessions and Working Group meetings.

The Executive Board will deliver the final report of the Conference to the Presidents of the EU institutions on 9 May in Strasbourg.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Motor vehicles, toys and electrical appliances are the three categories of non-food products with the most alerts on Safety Gate, the EU rapid alert system to protect consumers, according to the European Commission’s latest report for 2021.

In this annual report, for the first time, cars are at the top of the list of notified products, followed by toys. Also, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, protective equipment like face masks still makes up a substantial part of the products notified.

The new report, presented by Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders covers alerts notified during 2021 and the actions taken by national authorities in response.

Alerts are available to the public on the Safety Gate (https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate) in all EU official languages.

The Commission also launched a new e-surveillance tool called web crawler that will help national authorities detect the online offers of unsafe products signaled in Safety Gate.

The tool will support national authorities in the detection of online offers of dangerous products signalled in Safety Gate. This tool will identify and automatically list any of these offers, allowing enforcement authorities to track down the provider and order the effective withdrawal of these offers.

Reynders said that Safety gate should be “adapted to fit into the new consumer environment”, in order to remain an efficient tool for the Single Market, protecting consumers in all circumstances.

“It has also helped ensuring that equipment used in the fight against the pandemic is of the highest standards,” he added.

In 2021, authorities of the participating countries of the Safety Network (the 27 member states plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway) exchanged 2,142 alerts through the system. For the first time, the highest number of alerts was notified in the category “motor vehicles” category, followed by “toys” and “electrical appliances and equipment”.

As regards motor vehicles, actions taken mainly concerned recalls following the detection of technical problems while for toys, they focused on the presence of dangerous chemicals, as well as button batteries. Furthermore, the most common problems reported for electrical appliances and equipment related to the exposure of live parts and overheating issues.

As the pandemic continues, surveillance actions featured a range of COVID-19 related products. There were many alerts related to protective equipment, with protective masks particularly under the spotlight.

The five most common risks reported were personal injuries, chemicals, fire, choking and electric shocks. In total, 4,965 follow-up notices circulated in Safety Gate, showing that Member States closely monitor the alerts and often follow-up with additional measures taken in their own countries.

Since 2003, the Safety Gate enables quick exchange of information between EU/EEA member states, the UK (Northern Ireland) and the European Commission about dangerous non-food products posing a risk to health and safety of consumers.

To date, eleven online marketplaces have agreed to cooperate with Member States to remove dangerous products from their websites: bol.com, eMAG, Wish.com, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Rakuten France, Allegro, Cdiscount, Etsy and Joom.

Source: Cyprus News Agency