CNA
Cyprus Ministry of Health`s epidemiological monitoring unit has updated the epidemiological image of various countries concerning the coronavirus pandemic downgrading Japan from catergory A (low risk countries) to category B, designating Australia and Spain from category B to category C while Malta has been demoted from category A to category C.
A press release issued by the Ministry of Health says the evaluation was based on the epidemiological indicators of the countries, such as: the effective reproduction number R(t) for SARS-CoV-2, the number of new diagnoses, the number of laboratory tests, the mortality rate per 100,000 inhabitants, the estimated prevalence and the impact and classification by the World Health Organization (WHO), as these indicators appear on valid databases.
The new classification is as follows:
Category A–Low risk countries at the current stage: Austria, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway,Georgia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand.
Countries included in this category have an effective reproduction (Rt) number lower than 1 or/and small number of new diagnoses (<1/100,000 inhabitants per day) or/and small or very small COVID-19 mortality (<5-10/100,000 inhabitants) or/and classification of sporadic cases or clusters of cases according to the WHO or/and at least satisfactory laboratory testing (>3000 tests/100,000 inhabitants).
It should be noted that passengers coming from Category A countries are not required to present a laboratory COVID-19 test certificate or go into self-isolation.
The category B countries, that is, countries with possibly low risk but greater uncertainty compared to Category A are Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Rwanda, Tunisia, Uruguay, China, Japan, Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City and San Marino.
Category B counties have an effective reproduction (Rt) number greater than 1 or/and number of new diagnoses <1/100,000 inhabitants per day or/and increased COVID-19 mortality (>10/100,000 inhabitants) or/and limited laboratory testing (<2000 tests/100,000 inhabitants) or lack WHO classification. Passengers coming from Category B countries will be required to have undertaken a laboratory test no earlier than 72 hours prior to departure and to possess a Certificate showing negative PCR examination for the virus.
The updated category C includes Bulgaria, Sweden, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Malta, Algeria, Serbia, Morocco, Montenegro and Australia.
The entry into the Republic from Category C countries shall be allowed only for specific categories of citizens who have the possibility to choose whether to undergo a diagnostic test for COVID-19 upon their arrival in Cyprus or have with them a negative RT-PCR test certificate for COVID-19, undertaken no earlier than72 hours prior to departure. It must be noted that such persons shall have to remain in a state of self-isolation for 14 days.
The Ministry stresses that all passengers, regardless of country category, shall be obliged to file an application for theCyprusFlightPass within 24 hours prior to their departure flight. Moreover, in order to ensure public health and the monitoring of the epidemiological picture, a sample molecular laboratory testing of passengers on selected arriving flights will be carried out.
CNA
