NICOSIA, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The Health Minister of Cyprus, Michalis Hadjipantelas, announced stricter coronavirus restrictions on Friday after the number of new daily infections has increase more than 11 times in recent days.
Under the new rules, people will be required to present their SafePass before entering restaurants and other entertainment venues, such as cafes, bars and night clubs.
The SafePass provides confirmation that its holder has either recovered from COVID-19, been vaccinated or tested negative.
Hadjipantelas said that a SafePass is required to visit all venues, either outdoors or indoors, where there is a congregation of more than 20 people, including members of the staff.
He also said that customers of hospitality and entertainment venues must always be seated and no more than 10 people will be allowed around a table. Dancing will be prohibited, unless all customers have been fully vaccinated or have recovered from an infection.
The SafePass requirement also applies to visitors of government buildings and banks.
The Ministry of Finance has already announced that public servants will be required to present a SafePass when reporting for work. If they fail to comply, they will be sent home and each day of absence from work will be deducted from their annual leave.
Hadjipantelas said that children's camping sites will be shut down as of July 23.
The government also announced a series of incentives for people younger than 30 to get vaccinated.
These will be offered by large corporations, including the telecommunications service provider CYTA, which said that it will give a 20-euro (23.6 U.S. dollars) voucher to every young person who gets the first dose of a vaccine.
The carrot and stick policy was announced after a surge in new COVID-19 infections, which gradually went up from 50 a day to 1,150 on Thursday following the relaxation of restrictions about a month ago. Enditem