Police on Saturday urged people using the checkpoints for entry and exit to and from the Limassol and Paphos to have their papers ready to prevent long waiting lines.

Only some groups of workers and others are allowed to travel to, from and between Limassol and Paphos after the almost total lockdown imposed on these two districts due to the high numbers of coronavirus cases detected in recent weeks.

The measure will be in place until the end of the month, while people who fall within those categories, must present a confirmation from their employer and other documents depending on the case.

Plastic barriers were placed in nine areas on Friday to prevent unauthorised access.

But the procedures are causing long lines of vehicles, police said. Therefore, drivers were urged to have all the necessary documents ready to present at the roadblocks to minimise the waiting time.

Police said that they will not fine people who try to leave or enter these districts without the necessary documentation but they will not be allowed to enter or exit.

As of 5am on Wednesday November 18, all those persons exempt from the travel restrictions will additionally be required to display a negative PCR [coronavirus] test that has been issued at most seven days prior to the date of travel.

The health ministry announced that these tests would be given to beneficiaries free of charge, while workers are required to get tested in their district of residence. Testing started on Saturday in most districts while in Paphos it is expected to start on Sunday.

People in Limassol lined up to get tested outside the lab designated by the health ministry to carry out the tests.

Some told the Cyprus News Agency they had to wait for more than two hours to get tested and complained because only one lab was assigned this task by authorities.

In the meantime, the fisheries department clarified that travel of amateur fishermen from other districts to Paphos and Limassol was not allowed.

The authority also said that people from Limassol and Paphos were free to go recreational fishing in reservoirs and from beaches within the district they reside.

As part of its efforts to track the spread of Covid-19 the ministry of health on Sunday announced that free antigen rapid tests will be available in all towns as of Monday.

Mobile units will carry out the tests and their exact locations will be announced beforehand, and priority given to those whose work brings them in contact with members of the public.

Priority will also be given to people from Limassol and Paphos districts.

On Monday the testing locations will be:

Paphos: outside the town hall and outside the citizens service centre on Eleftherios Venezelou street from 9am to 5pm.

Polis Chrysochous: Outside the town hall from 9am to 2pm.

Limassol: Gregoris Afxentiou square; entrance to the Ayios Athanasios Industrial area; outside the Mesa Yitonia town hall; Ayia Varvara Church, Zakaki; opposite the former Skaros Tavern in Yermasoyia, all from 9am to 5pm.

Larnaca: parking lot of the Stelios Andreou supermarket in Livadia from 9am to 5pm.

Famagusta: Paralimni town hall from 9am to 5pm.

The programme will run for ten days with 500 tests being carried out each day.

Results of the test will be sent by text message within 24 hours or on request in writing within 30 minutes.

Anyone who is found positive is asked to self isolate for 14 days and also to get a PCR test to confirm the result.

There was a high turnout of people wishing to receive a free antigen rapid test in Paphos and Polis Chrysochous, the director of the company collaborating with the health ministry for the testing, Mediwell home healthcare services Zinonas Zinonos said on Monday.

Despite the large number of people, all health safety and social distancing measures are being implemented, Zinonos told CNA.

Municipality workers assisted in monitoring the increased flow of people.

The health ministry assigned mobile units across Cyprus providing free rapid tests, focusing on the districts of Limassol and Paphos that recorded an increased amount of cases and are currently under lockdown.

The programme targets front-line workers and those working in customer service.

The testing, according to Zinonos, will contribute to the prevention of virus spread  in those areas so that citizens can go back to their previous routines. Results are issued within 15 minutes after a sampling by nasal swab.

Rapid antigen tests are estimated to be 92 to 98 per cent accurate. People who test positive must self-isolate and undergo a PCR test for coronavirus, Zinonos added.

According to Polis Chrysochou community leader Giotis Papachristofi, 500 rapid tests will be carried out over the next ten days, aiming to test most residents in the area.

Papachristofi also called for the arrangement of PCR tests in the town for those allowed to move to and from Limassol and Paphos to other districts.

An underground sewer belched out stinking waste from Sapa, the Paphos sewerage board, for four days before the problem was finally fixed at 10am on Monday, according to the Paphos Greens.

“This is another environmental crime in the Paphos area this time by Sapa. From Friday until today, Sapa waste was directed into the sea. For four days the sewage flowed on the main road and into the sea and the authorities were nowhere. They didn’t even know about the leak,” a spokesman for the Paphos Greens told the Cyprus Mail on Monday.

The overflowing sewer is located on the main Paphos to Coral Bay road and the waste found its way into a stream which is located just 200 metres from the famous Kotzias beach.

He said he could not believe the public did not complain as the stench was overwhelming.

He said the incident also raised the question of how long it would take to repair a leak in a more deserted area that was densely populated, when it took four days to repair a leak on such a busy road.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has occurred and everyone blames technical issues. But that is no excuse. Those in charge must assume their own responsibilities immediately,” he said.

Many families in Paphos chose this past weekend to put up Christmas trees and decorations weeks earlier than usual this year in a bid to beat the virus blues.

A local radio station is embracing the festive season with an online station playing non-stop Christmas music from next week and currently running festive competitions to spot Santa.

“We put up our tree and Christmas decorations at home this the weekend to lift our spirits and to get the kids into vacation mode and create some positive energy for them. It’s an excuse to escape from the everyday issues and it’s made them very happy,” Agapios Georgiou, owner of Rock FM radio and father of two young children told the Cyprus Mail on Monday.

In addition, the radio station is running a competition to ‘spot Santa’ all over the district of Paphos and win prizes. They have also set up a new online radio station, which will play Christmas songs, 24/7, from next week.

“We decided to do these things to spread some fun and take people’s mind off the situation we are all in. It’s fun,” he said.

Social media is awash with people posting photos of trees and decorations.

Paphos resident, Mikka Heaney and her family did just that to cheer up her young children, who came home from school cold and fed up last week, as they have to have all of the doors and windows open, and playgrounds in Paphos are closed due to the conronavirus restrictions.

“We have brought Christmas forward this year because of Covid. We’re listening to Christmas songs already and the children have got the Christmas sweets and chocolates out.”

She added, “the tree is up and the children loved decorating it. Strange times need desperate measures.”

Her children, like many others, have grown tired of the situation and have had ‘so much taken away,’ but will have small treats along the way in the run up to Christmas and afterwards, she said.

Another Paphos resident said that a neighbour has already decorated the exterior of his house with twinkling fairy lights and decorations, which spurred him to put up a tree at home this weekend.

“It doesn’t matter that it’s only November, this year has been so weird and difficult for everyone. We should all just do what makes us happy. Life is too short,” he said.

Others have already completed Christmas shopping lists in fear of the possibility of another island wide lockdown which could affect Christmas.

“No one really knows what could happen or what actions the Cyprus government will take because of the pandemic. I wanted to make sure that my family got some presents to open and change the mood and make a happy time for us all. I have also already bought a lot of the food we will eat and put it in the freezer,” a mum of three said.

No date has yet been set to turn on the Christmas lights in Paphos, a municipality spokesman confirmed on Monday, as it depends on the current restrictions in Paphos. They are usually lit up in the first week of December, ‘but who knows this year,” he told the newspaper.

The programme of free rapid coronavirus tests continues and has been expanded in the Paphos district, along with PCR testing of employees and others that are exempt from the ban on travel to and from Paphos.

Following the completion of the rapid tests in Polis Chrysochous, the next phase will be completed within 10 days in three areas in Paphos.

The programme is for all residents but priority is for those who are employed in areas of public service, front line professionals and then other residents.

Testing will be at outside Paphos town hall from 9am to 5pm, on Eleftheriou Venizelou Avenue (in front of the Citizen Service Centre) from 9am to 5pm, and a mobile unit will be set up in Peyia at the square of Vrisi ton Pegeiotisssa, from 9am – 2pm.

Free testing will also get underway in Geroskipou from Thursday (tomorrow), according to the local mayor, Michalis Pavlides.

“Testing will be at the sculpture park as we have a large parking area there and it depends how many people turn up as to how many days the testing will last,” he informed the Cyprus Mail.

In addition, he noted that some members of the municipality staff are currently self-isolating for 14 days after one of them came into contact with a positive case, even though his test came back as negative.

Marinos Lambrou, the mayor of Peyia said that the health ministry in cooperation with the company Mediwell Home Healthcare Services will offer completely free antigen rapid test for the entire population of Peyia, according to CNA.

Lambrou called on Peyia residents to give up five minutes of their time to conduct the test.

During two days of testing Polis Chrysochous, 316 tests were performed and only one positive case was detected, said the mayor, Giotis Papachristofi.

In Paphos of the 580 antigen rapid tests conducted, eight positive cases emerged on Tuesday.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Health informed that the programme of PCR testing for workers wishing to travel continues, with the reinforcement and the addition of new sampling points in the two districts.

As well as a mobile unit in Geroskipou, another is at the parking area of the “Stelios Kyriakidis” Stadium (former Paphiakos) and got underway yesterday.

The testing will continue on Thursday and Friday, November 18-20, from 8am until 6pm.

The health ministry also extended the need for workers travelling between, to or from the two districts to present negative PCR certificate not less than 7 days old, to Thursday at 5am.

A member of the municipal council of Paphos has tested positive for coronavirus, it emerged on Thursday.

The confirmed case was identified on Wednesday. The council last held a plenary session on Monday, the Cyprus News Agency reported.

Those sitting near the person underwent rapid coronavirus tests which came out negative, said the head of Disy’s delegation to the municipal council Nikos Simillides.

All the close contacts are self-isolating and will receive a PCR test in the upcoming days, added his counterpart from Diko Yiannis Koulountis.

The councillors said there is no reason for concern as all the measures against the spread of coronavirus were implemented during the meeting.

Head of Akel’s group on the municipal council Costas Diplaros said all the members were wearing a face mask during the meeting.

Diplaros added that most municipal counsellors commuted for work and needed to present a negative PCR test as Paphos is under lockdown.

The head of Edek’s group on the council Vasos Demetriou in Paphos said the members were kept an approximate two-metre social distance and estimated that this is the reason why there was no infection.

Six people have been charged and released after breaking the 8pm curfew in Paphos to gamble at a cafe.

Five were customers and the sixth, the owner, police said.

Police raided the cafe at 9.20pm during lockdown checks.

The six were charged with violating restrictions and with illegal gambling.

The Paphos mayor has called on the government to explain to his residents the reasoning behind the decision to implement strict measures in Paphos following statements made by a member of the epidemiology team advising the government that the motive was a political one, and data proved it.

Phedonas Phedonos made the request following statements by the professor of molecular virology, Leontios Kostrikis, who said that the measures should have not been targeted at just Paphos and Limassol.

Phedonos wants clarification as to why restrictions were imposed on Paphos district when other areas have the same, or even more confirmed Covid 19 infections but no extra measures are in place.

Kostrikis, a professor at the University of Cyprus and a member of the health ministry’s epidemiological team, stressed in an interview on Radio Cosmos on Monday, that he had argued from the beginning that the lockdown should be imposed across the board and not just targeted at Paphos and Limassol where a travel ban and 8pm curfews are in place.

Kostrikis said that his estimates have been based on the graphs recently announced by the members of the epidemiological team.

“The question is why Paphos should be closed since its epidemiological data are at the same level as those of Nicosia and Larnaca,” he said.

He said that the decision on local lock-downs was political and not a scientific one, and cited graphs published on November 12 and 16 showing that Paphos, Nicosia and Larnaca were at the same level – just over 150 infections per 100 thousand of the population, and in fact Paphos was below Famagusta.

In a post on social media, the mayor noted that the officials of the district are behaving responsibly. Although they saw that the number of cases were not so many, they still called on the public to apply the restrictive measures in order to stop the pandemic.

He said that, “everyone calls on residents in Paphos to implement the measures”, but added that “such statements created confusion and questions and explanations must be given immediately.”

Kostrikis stressed that his comments were based on published scientific findings and his purpose was not to upset or to create problems.

Phedonos said that the professor’s statements were: “enlightening and clear”.

The consequences for Paphos and its economy are great, he said, adding that the competent ministry should give clear explanations to the thousands of people and hundreds of businesses in the district that are suffering due to the measures.

Five break waters will be constructed in the coastal area of Chlorakas, according to a social media post by the local community leader.

“The tender process for the the construction of five parallel breakwaters and the construction of a ramp for lifting/launching boats in the area of Alytzi in Chlorakas has been announced by the Department of Public Works,” Nikolas Liasides stated.

The deadline for submission of bids is January 15, 2021, he said.

The aim is to create a suitable and safe beach for bathers.

The estimated cost of the project is around €3,683,000, plus VAT.

A now defunct private school in Paphos looks set to be sold for 6.5 million euros according to a debt servicing company.

“An offer was made this week and we are still in the process and all that entails. We will assess the buyers and proceed with the contract,” a spokesperson for APS told the Cyprus Mail on Friday.

The offer is from a consortium of Cypriot and foreign investors for the sale of school facilities in Achelia Paphos for €6.5 million on behalf of the Hellenic Bank.

“These processes can sometimes take a long time, up to two or three months, but we will do our best to expedite it.”

The facility was a private school with an area of 68,000 sq.m, however, the new potential buyers haven’t disclosed what the property will be used for.

The school has a total frontage of approximately 520 metres and the building is approximately six years old. The ground floor consists of three sections: the administrative area, the nursery, the primary, the high school, two courtyards and outdoor playing fields.

A 69-year old woman died after falling as she tried to access her second-floor apartment in Kato Paphos from her neighbour’s balcony.

According to reports the woman, who is a foreign national, fell from an approximate height of seven metres and was killed instantly.

Police said the accident took place at 8am on Thursday.

An ambulance was called to the scene and the woman was transferred to Paphos general hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

The woman had obtained permission from her neighbour to climb from their balcony to hers after she got locked outside her apartment but lost her balance and fell to her death.

Police are investigating.

The Paphos Regional board of tourism is in the process of designing smart signs as part of a pilot programme at various points of interest in the district.

Special internet codes on the signs will provide visitors with, rich and interactive information .

“The Paphos regional board of tourism continues its efforts to upgrade the tourist experience and implement actions to transform Paphos province into a smart destination,” the board announced.

The “smart” signs will be made of environmentally friendly materials, will be discreet in size and will have QR codes (Quick Response code) so that visitors can use the internet to find out useful information. The signs are also advantageous compared with static signs which are often bulky.

Using the QR Code a link will offer on the internet and the user will be able to choose the language of choice from a mobile phone. A wide range of information options will then be available, including, descriptions, rich photographic material, an audio tour, and a video 360º tour.

This innovative approach is expected to also bring several other benefits, such as reducing visual pollution, as static signs will be replaced by the new discreet signs, flexibility in design, ease of upgrading information  and therefore a lower cost to maintain, ease of connecting to social media and also receiving ‘traffic’ statistics.

Trial areas include: Kritou Terra, Arodes, Neo Chorio, Argaka, Pomos and if the results are encouraging, the project will be expanded.

The community leaders of Kissonerga and Chlorakas in Paphos on Saturday called for the improvement of a road where a 36-year-old man died after being hit by car the night before, citing zero pedestrian safety.

A 36-year-old Paphos permanent resident from Bulgaria died after being hit by a car on Friday while walking with his mother along a road in Paphos, headed towards Peyia. The accident occurred at around 18.35pm.

The 36-year-old father of two, aged three and six, was taken by ambulance to the Paphos hospital’s A&E department where the doctor on duty confirmed his death.

The driver of the car, a 75-year-old British national, who was headed from Potima to Peyia, was later detained to help police with their investigations. The driver tested negative for both alcohol and drugs.

The area’s community leaders told the Cyprus News Agency on Saturday that the road where the accident happened was in urgent need of improvements.

According to Chlorakas community leader, Nicolas Liasides, the road from his village to Peyia is a rural one and has “zero safety”.

The road has no pavements or streetlights, while in the coastal Potima area, it is sometimes flooded by the sea.

“The reconstruction of the road can no longer be delayed,” he said.

Kissonerga community leader Yiorgos Stylianou said that the road was of primary importance for the western Paphos area and ought to be improved.

He said that the road needed to be widened, noting that Kissonerga community council in a letter to the public works department had requested the construction of a sidewalk on the coastal side of the road.

Six people were caught gambling in a Paphos residence on Saturday.

Police officers, during a search in a house in Paphos after securing a court order, found six people gambling.

Five other people were also in the house, including the owner.

They were all charged with offences concerning gambling and the law on infectious diseases.

A valuable personal archive of a former mayor of Paphos, Christodoulos Galatopoulos was presented to the municipality by his grandson at the weekend.

The collection will form the basis of a new project for the municipality which will preserve and digitise the town’s history.

The archive includes original and rare documents of the first decades of the last century, photographs, handwritten speeches, election leaflets, correspondence and many other documents.

Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos described the archive as ‘very important’ because the documents help to unfold the history of the city from 1920 to 1950.

The mayor said that the municipality will prioritise collecting archive material from all of the eminent people in Paphos over the last 100 years, adding that families and heirs have already been contacted with this in mind.

The material collected will be digitised, classified and maintained by a special scientific team in order to be held at the town’s Historical Documentation Centre, which the municipality plans to create in the listed building of the former police station in the heart of Paphos.

Doctor Christodoulos Galatopoulos who handed over his grandfather’s archive said that his grandfather tended not to throw anything away and kept a record of even, “humble, (in his words), election leaflets”, which are, however very rare today.

“The archive also includes all of my grandfather’s correspondence from his early years, 1930-31 when he was a Member of Parliament, during the period when he was imprisoned for four years and also in the period 1943-1953 during which he was elected three consecutive times as mayor of Paphos, leaving his mark on the city and the place more widely both for the works he carried out and for his spiritual and cultural contributions,” he said.

He wrote most of his literary works, including poetry, in prison. When the collection came into his grandson’s possession, the doctor discovered that there were books, poems and plays which were never published as his grandfather died when he was only 50.

Phedonos thanked Galatopoulos for the donation and expressed the belief that others would soon follow this example.

The switching on of Paphos Christmas tree lights will be a low-key affair this week, with no crowds permitted, due to the current pandemic restrictions, according to the local municipality.

“The tree will be illuminated by the mayor of Paphos, Phedonas Phedonos on Wednesday December 9 in Kennedy Square at 6pm, without the public for the first time,” a spokesman told the Cyprus Mail.

The town’s Christmas lights will also be switched on but no municipal events, gatherings or musical offerings of any size are in the works, nor look likely to be, he added.

“We would ask the public to be patient for a little longer, obey the measures and ensure that everyone stays safe and healthy. The vaccine will be available in Cyprus shortly, and slowly, a more recognisable life will return,” he added.

As with other towns across the island, the switching on of Christmas lights is usually a popular event which symbolises the start of planned festivities in the area, with people descending on the town to witness Father Christmas enter the old town on his sleigh and hand out sweets to children.

It is also usually a good earner for cafes, eateries, bars and restaurants that line Kennedy Square.

The completion of the overhead walkway in Kato Paphos, which has been left partially constructed for the last few years, finally looks set to get underway as the tender has been awarded.

The Paphos council has awarded the tender to contractor Miltiades Neophytou Civil Engineering Contractors & Developments Ltd, for a value of €2,022,000, plus VAT.

The works are set to start in the coming days and will be completed within eight months, the municipality said.

The walkway, which forms part of a project to integrate the archaeological sites in Paphos has been blighted with years of delays.

The municipality, after consultation and approval by Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos, undertook to complete the project, and re-announced the bids in order to do so, a spokesman said.

The overhead walkway, which many people wrongly believe was a mono-rail, was part of a project initially designed via an architectural competition in August 2014.

In December 2015, the tender for the project was announced by the department of public works (DPW) and in February 2016 a contract was signed with the successful bidder, GCC Ltd.

Construction got underway in October 2016, but was suspended in May 2018 due to serious problems in its progress. In January 2019, the DPW undertook the completion of the project through subcontractors but the work could not proceed productively, the spokesman said and was suspended again in February 2020.

Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos intervened and appealed to the minister that the municipality of Paphos should take over the assignment of the project and complete it.

Around 60 per cent of the work has been carried out so far.

Paphos police on Tuesday arrested a man in connection with a burglary earlier this month.

According to a police statement, the burglary was reported on December 5. Various items worth €1,000 were stolen from a house in Taxiarchon street in Paphos, including a laptop, a mobile phone and a Hellenic Bank card.

The thief allegedly tried to use the credit card at a kiosk, as a result of which the owner received a message on his mobile phone.

The owner informed police and the suspect, a 37-year-old man, was identified with the help of testimony and CCTV footage from the area.

The man reportedly admitted committing the offence after his arrest.

Part of the stolen property was found after he told officers where to locate it.

A small group of volunteers led by a Paphos businessman are planning to ensure that Christmas is a special time for needy families this year.

Tony Theo, owner of Chalkies Bar in Coral Bay in Peyia which is about to close again due Covid restrictions, along with a group of volunteers have been helping hundreds of families in the Paphos district since the pandemic swept Cyprus and resulted in a first lockdown, which saw many people lose their jobs in March.

They served and delivered in excess of 12,000 hot, free meals to those that needed it, and all from their own pockets and donations.

Tony had been hoping to cook Christmas lunch for those in need, but now, due to the new measures, plans to deliver Christmas parcels with ingredients for people to cook at home, despite having to close his own business. And for those that don’t have facilities, the volunteers will cook Christmas lunch and deliver it on Christmas Day.

“We will do 40 or 50 families if we can. It would’ve been much more before the restrictions as other venues were going to host as well as us,” he said.

Tony is requesting that a couple of days before Christmas, donations of fresh vegetables, fruit, cake, mine pies and all things festive are made, but not fresh turkeys as they have nowhere to store them, he said.

In addition, ‘Trash the Tash for Cash’, a Paphos based initiative that sees men to grow facial hair and shave it off for charity, has been raising money for the Christmas lunch appeal (and the Paphos cancer patients support group), however, a planned shave off event has been cancelled due to the restrictions. Instead, funds raised will be handed over to both charities next week, organiser Laurence Doughty told the Cyprus Mail.

“People can also donate presents for children, we do have some, but you can never have enough presents,” Tony said.

Following the initial lockdown, Tony also started a ‘pay it forward’ scheme which saw members of the public buy vouchers for participating venues which could be redeemed by those in need for a hot meal.

However, due to restrictions on eateries, the initiative has recently been concentrating on donating bags of necessary items to around 30 families.

“We are helping all sorts of people of all nationalities including, English, Cypriot, Romanian, Bulgarian, African and Syrian. Most are from our previous list and have no income, They are now out of work, some from hotels, and they have nothing,” he said.

Families are given two bags at a time and they contain all sorts of staples and non-perishable items, as well as toiletries and sanitary products.

Rice, pasta, cereals, tinned soups, sauces, canned meats, cereals, nappies are all delivered by Tony with the help or around 4 or 5 volunteers from a pool of around 40.

“After the first lockdown, I just felt that I couldn’t abandon these people as they are still struggling. But there wasn’t enough money, energy or resource to carry on with the hot meals so we started the pay it forward scheme. Then the next lockdown came, and it’s on our shoulders to carry on.”

Chalkies will be forced to close on Friday due to the new restrictions, but have decided to use the time to concentrate on helping those in need, delivering food parcels and cooking for those that don’t have the facilities to do so.

They also need donations of non-perishable items in the run up to Christmas.

“The announcement has destroyed our hope of feeding people on Christmas Day at Chalkies and other venues.

Instead we will work out who we can deliver ingredients to and who we need to deliver hot food to and still hopefully help them have a bit of Christmas cheer. We won’t let them down,” he said.

• For further information: https://www.facebook.com/chalkieskitchen/