Govt lifts final Covid-19 restrictions

The government on Thursday lifted the last remaining Covid-19 restrictions, Health Minister Michael Damianos said.

Speaking after the day’s cabinet meeting, he said people would no longer be required to wear face masks in hospitals and nursing homes, as had previously been stipulated.

In addition, the stipulation of a maximum price for the performance of a PCR test and a rapid antigen test, and for the purchase of a self-testing kit, was also removed.

The government had in March removed the requirement that people present a negative Covid-19 test before visiting hospitals and nursing homes, with Damianos at the time saying the number of cases was “very low”.

His predecessor Popi Kanari had in January decreed that people only be allowed access to hospitals and nursing homes if they wore a mask and presented a negative Covid-19 test.

The law at the time applied to all employees and visitors over the age of 12 years old.