Healthcare officials are mulling a revised contingency plan to ensure hospitals can cope with rising admissions of Covid-19 patients so to keep providing adequate care for other inpatients.

The Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel will be accepting patients with serious and life-threating medical conditions from Cyprus in an attempt to relieve hospitals under strain from Covid-19, it was announced on Thursday.

Retailers are turning to online sales to make the most of the few opportunities left, unable to lure consumers to brick and mortar shops, especially after the coronavirus has almost cancelled Christmas this year.

Economic sentiment in Cyprus deteriorated slightly in November, a business survey by the Economics Research Centre of the University of Cyprus, published on Thursday, shows. A drop which is attributed to a deterioration in the construction sector confidence as well as consumer confidence.

Unemployment in the third quarter reached 8.2% compared to 6.7% in the same quarter of 2019, official data showed Thursday.

The University of Nicosia pharmacy programme has added a pioneering educational tool to its teaching and learning arsenal, namely, “Lab-in-a-Box”. This mobile science laboratory has allowed the programme to continue offering its vital laboratory courses, ensuring that the practical training of its aspiring pharmacists proceeds unhampered even during a pandemic.

Cyprus’ hydrocarbon exploration programme will resume in the second half of 2021, Minister of Energy Natasa Pilides has said, before admitting that the coronavirus pandemic made drilling projects “increasingly complex.”

Cyprus has welcomed new regulations drafted by the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by existing ships once these are implemented in about six months.

Leondios Kostrikis, Professor of Biotechnology and Virology at the University of Cyprus, does neither confirm nor denies the various scenarios about new restrictive measures against COVID-19, however, he believes that any measures will be valid also during Christmas holiday.

The Council of Ministers has approved a proposal tabled by the Minister of Health Constantinos Ioannou for the purchase of an additional 400,000 rapid antigen tests to bolster efforts toward monitoring the island’s epidemiological situation and limiting the spread of coronavirus.