People over 80 who are not care home residents will start receiving Covid jabs after January 6, as vaccinations move into the second stage, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

The holiday period appears to have taken its toll on the local coronavirus pandemic as Cyprus announced a record high 751 new cases on Monday, with the Health Ministry following up on Tuesday with stricter restrictions just days before New Year’s Eve.

2020 was the most difficult year in recent times for tourism after the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, chairman of the Paphos hotels association Thanos Michaelides said on Tuesday.

The Cyprus Shipping Chamber, the umbrella organisation representing the majority of locally-based companies in the maritime sector, wants the international community to engage more actively to combat piracy off the Gulf of Guinea.

The University of Nicosia placed #126 in the Emerging Europe and Central Asia Region, in which over 3,300 universities operate, according to the QS World University Rankings 2021

Primary, middle, and high school students won’t be returning to school classrooms on January 7, as the Education Ministry announced Tuesday that the school year will resume via distance learning.

The health ministry on Monday urged people to stick to the same social distancing bubbles as regards the rule setting a maximum of ten people for gatherings at homes.

The Covid-19 vaccine is the best development we could have because there is currently an outbreak of the pandemic in many countries all over the world,  professor of microbiology and molecular virology at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus, Dr. Petros Karayiannis has told the Cyprus News  Agency (CNA).

Cyprus is relying on rapid testing schemes to get ahead of the pandemic after authorities said antigen tests will no longer need confirmation through more exact PCR tests.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades received on Monday his first of two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine at a suburb of Nicosia, calling on vaccine doubters and deniers to come on board.