x

Society

Cyprus Police Step Up COVID Checks, Two Pubs Fined Over Dances

NICOSIA — Enforcement against COVID-19 health measure violations on Cyprus is picking up, with two Famagusta-based pubs fined €3,000 ($3519) for allowing customers to dance, and serving them at the bar, police said.

“Unfortunately, we still find businesspeople, owners and employees without a SafePass or a face mask,” police spokesman Christos Andreou told the state-run CyBC broadcaster.

The pubs were fined after 4,010 checks between in a 24-hour period from Aug. 22-23 for violations of Coronavirus measures as the government is trying to corral the pandemic even as a vaccination program accelerated.

During the checks, two more shops were fined €500 ($586) in Paphos for failing to check SafePass of their clients, documents showing a person has been vaccinated or is free of the virus.

Besides businesses that were being checked, 41 people were also fined, mainly for failing to wear a facemask, police said, a common violation as many people have stopped wearing them nor keeping safe social distance.

In Limassol, 19 of 499 people checked were fined and 10 in Famagusta after 1,102 checks there the report said, and only two in Nicosia among 1,025 checks.

Police said they will continue to look for violators, even in private event such as weddings, as a warning to follow the rules for safety.

RELATED

NICOSIA - Continuing its upward trend in tourism, Cyprus reported a 5 percent increase in arrivals in the first quarter of 2024 - the offseason winter period - but Deputy Tourism Minister Kostas Koumis said the sector has become reliant on foreign workers.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

Nicole Kidman, Who ‘Makes Movies Better,’ Gets AFI Life Achievement Award

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Morgan Freeman spoke the words, but pretty much everyone who took the stage at the presentation of the AFI Life Achievement Award agreed: “ Nicole Kidman.

MANILA, Philippines — Southeast Asia was coping with a weekslong heat wave on Monday as record-high temperatures led to school closings in several countries and urgent health warnings throughout the region.

SPRINGFIELD, IL (AP) — The document in which Abraham Lincoln set in motion the Union's military response to the launch of the U.

It's officially spring, and with that comes the urge to declutter and start fresh.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.