No additional measures will be needed if the existing ones are observed, says the Minister of Health

"We believe that if we follow the measures we have decided in the past two weeks, if we follow the protocols such as wearing our mask properly, keeping our distance, ventilating our spaces, we will not need to take additional measures," said the Minister of Health. Michalis Hadjipandelas.

Speaking on Saturday in Pachna during a visit to the community medical center that operated as a vaccination center, the Minister of Health said that his ministry's goal is to vaccinate all citizens.

"So far we have given 400 vaccines and by the end of the day we will exceed 500. A very important number that we all at the beginning thought we would not achieve but thanks to these people we have achieved," he said.

I want to say, added Mr. Hadjipandelas, that the vaccination is progressing, we are doing well but we are not complacent.

"Our goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible because in this way we will reduce the number of hospitalizations in our hospitals," he said, adding: "Pachna set the example, I hope other communities will follow and if there is interest from other communities we we will go to them immediately ".

In the following days the equipment for the detection of Omicron mutation

Asked about the equipment for detecting the Omicron mutation, Mr. Hadjipandelas said that he will be in Cyprus in the coming days.

"We are very close, we already had a meeting yesterday and we will have the machine in the next one or two days. "We will just get the results much faster than at the moment."

The Minister of Health was also asked about the cost of the PCR examination that students will have to pay when returning to Cyprus, saying that this is a temporary measure. "Our students come from abroad, another country that we do not know what prevails in these other countries, as we see, there is panic in other countries. "Let's look at the positive because by doing this test our students will feel comfortable visiting grandparents and siblings and there is no risk of transmitting the virus to them," he said.

"We took this measure because we have a new mutation, because we could not have predicted it ten days ago. It is temporary and we have announced that it is temporary. "It is until the beginning of January and then I believe that this measure will not exist", said Mr. Hadjipandelas.

Visit of the Minister of Health to P. Chrysochous on December 14

The Minister also commented on the protest of the residents of Polis Chrysochous on the occasion of the recent death of a citizen while he was being transported by taxi to the Paphos hospital. He said he would visit the area on December 14, adding that "it is a visit we planned before this incident happened. We will see all the problems and if the Ministry of Health has to intervene, it will intervene ".

Increase in vaccinations for ages 12 - 15 and 17, in Cyprus pediatric vaccines on 13/12

In her statements, the General Director of the Ministry of Health, Christina Giannaki, said that the vaccinations in Cyprus until yesterday amounted to 81.3%.

As he said, there is an "increase in the ages of 12-15 and 17, only yesterday we closed around 6 thousand vaccines in Cyprus".

Ms. Giannaki also said that Cyprus will be the first European country to receive childhood vaccines. According to Ms. Giannaki, the vaccines will arrive in Cyprus on December 13 and not on the 20th as expected. The first vaccinations of children will take place in the maternity center.

On his part, the Commissioner for Mountain Areas Development, Costas Hambiaouris spoke about success due to the universal effort made by the stakeholders.

"We will give the last resident of the mountain communities the opportunity to have direct access to mobile vaccination units because we are here to support the entire effort of the Ministry of Health," he said.

(KYPE / MKO / HF)