Three chartered flights are repatriating Cypriots from the UK on Saturday, with two having already landed and the third expected around 7 pm, the Cyprus News Agency reports.
All arriving passengers will be quarantined for 14 days. They are being brought back on flights chartered by the government. A decree came into force at 3 am on Saturday prohibiting all passenger flights for two weeks, but the government is making exceptions for rescue flights — both to bring back Cypriots and to pick up tourists to take them home.
Strict entry requirements are in force which prohibit entry without a certificate they are free of coronavirus except in the case of those who travelled for medical or professional reasons and who have this verified by diplomatic missions of the Republic. About 1400 such certificates have been issued, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Cyprus News Agency said a chartered Blue Air flight from Luton with 121 passengers landed at 16.15 while a second Jet2 chartered flight from Stansted with 147 passengers was due a little before 7 pm.
The first chartered repatriation flight arrived at 3.45 am — a chartered Aegean flight with 164 passengers that took off from Heathrow.
Transport Minister Yianis Karousos said that arrangements have not yet been made for charter flights from Greece until there is a clear picture on how many people had not managed to secure a seat on the scheduled flights.
The Foreign Ministry will tomorrow update its list of those who are stranded and act accordingly, he added.
