The finance and labour ministries are working on revising the support schemes ahead of a new lockdown, expected to be announced on Friday as a means of further curbing the spread of coronavirus.

A total of 3,901 citizens were vaccinated against COVID-19 from December 27 until today, the health ministry announced on Wednesday.

The former municipal market in old Nicosia is to be refurbished at a cost of €4.92 million plus VAT and operate as a research and innovation centre. 

Total new loans recorded a decrease to €263.3 million in November 2020, compared with €281.4 million in the previous month, according to data released Tuesday by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC). The developments include contracts which were renegotiated.

Bounced cheques in the Cyprus Central Bank preliminary Information Register reached last year reached its lowest level since 2003 while for the first time their total value was under a million.

The Covid-19 case fatality risk in Cyprus was 0.6% on January 2, according to the National Surveillance Report released by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

Vaccinations for those aged of 80 began on Tuesday after vaccinations for the first priority group – healthcare workers dealing with coronavirus patients and nursing home workers and residents – successfully wrapped up on Monday, with the health ministry announcing that time-slots are already booked solid.

Article 8 (21) provides that the tax exemption of €8.550 and 20% (whichever is the lower) of the remuneration from any employment exercised in Cyprus by an individual who was resident outside Cyprus the tax year before the year of commencement of employment in Cyprus is exempt from income tax.

Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony of US-funded CYCLOPS, the Cyprus Centre for Land, Open-Seas and Port Security is the realisation of stronger bilateral relations between Nicosia and Washington.

Cyprus is the EU country where the fewest people live in overcrowded homes, while many live in dwellings considered too large for them, Eurostat announced on Tuesday.