The Republic of Cyprus launched on Monday a gradual unlock of a three-week lockdown, citing signs of improvement with fewer hospitalizations and a major ramp up in the state’s rapid testing strategy.

Dr. Petros Karayiannis, member of the Scientific Committee on the pandemic and Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School has told CNA that the epidemiological picture of Cyprus has improved and that he expects a greater drop in Covid-19 cases from next week onward, pointing out at the same time the need to proceed with caution.

Cyprus is among the few EU member states that is deescalating Covid measures while most are extending strict restrictions amid deep concerns over the aggressive spread of the virus’ new variants, the ministry of health said on Saturday.

Cyta on Sunday announced the operation of the first 5G network in Cyprus by Cytamobile-Vodafone, “marking the beginning of a new era in the evolution of communications in our country”, the company said.

Cyprus is not only an attractive investment destination, but also the business gateway into the EU.

EY has achieved the goal it had set at the beginning of 2020 to achieve carbon neutrality by the end of the year. The commitment had been announced by EY’s global CEO, Carmine Di Sibio, at the World Economic Forum in January 2020.

The European Commission and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EU IPO) have recently announced the implementation of the Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund, a €20million grant scheme created to encourage European small and medium sized enterprises (SME) to protect their Intellectual Property (IP) rights.

The president of Cyprus said authorities on Friday will unveil deep reforms to fight corruption, months after scrapping a citizenship for investment programme that was marked by allegations of graft.

The health ministry announced on Thursday that people aged 86 and above who have not yet reserved a slot will be able to book their Covid-19 jab on the government vaccination portal from January 29 at 9am.

Wizz Air announced three new destinations from Cyprus to Oslo, Tel Aviv and Kharkiv starting from March while allocating a third aircraft to its Larnaca base.