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Cyprus has tested 12% of its population for COVID-19

28/05/2020 17:16

 

Cyprus has tested 12% of its population for COVID-19, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Thursday.

Ioannou, who was addressing the parliamentary committee on health, briefed MPs on the testing procedure, adding that Cyprus is the only country which has also followed the procedure of tracking down contacts of people who have contracted the coronavirus.

Until today, the Minister of Health said, a total of €6,766,000 has been spent on diagnostic tests, adding that as time goes by the cost of tests will be less.

He further said that Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides is looking into the number of contracts which were signed during the pandemic, adding that a number of free diagnostic tests will be made available to every sector of the economy which resumes operations.

Ioannou said that actions to contain the pandemic started in Cyprus on January 23 in cooperation with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and on the basis of guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation.

He informed MPs that his ministry asked the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics to conduct testing because it was the only organization which could secure sufficient quantities of tests at a cost of €100 per test.

Until today, a total of 106,000 tests have been completed, that is to say 12,094 per 100,000 people with Cyprus ranking second after Malta in the EU and high in the world map.