The Council of Ministers on Tuesday decided to allow small relaxations on COVID-19 measures for some of the festive days and to extend the measures taken on December 9, until January 10, instead of January 5.

Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou made statements after the Cabinet’s meeting and pointed out that the epidemiological figures are still worrisome and therefore a bigger relaxation in measures is out of the question.

He said that for December 24 the curfew will not end at 21.00 but at 23.00 and for December 31 it will end at 01.00 in the morning. The number of people allowed at home gatherings, remains at 10.

He also said that there will be church masses for December 25 and January 6, with the maximum number of churchgoers to remain at 75 and with strict measures and adherence to the protocols. The Minister said that if there is a bigger number of people who wish to go to church, the authorities are advised to organize more masses instead of just one, during the day.

The Minister said that the number of cases remains high as well as the positivity rates from the rapid tests. He also said that the average number of patients in hospitals daily is 110-130 whereas the number of those intubated remains also high.

The Minister also said that the number of deaths is also alarming.

He said that all the figures will go under assessment, adding that the whole of Europe is on alert and that the situation in Cyprus is described as serious but remains under control.

He called on citizens to remain vigilant and follow the measures and the protocols and to stay safe.

Ioannou said that the COVID vaccine is the beginning of the end of a very long course but we all need to be responsible and adhere to the measures.