Decisions taken by the Council of Ministers regarding the Covid-19 restrictions and measures on 19 February 2021

Prime Minister Ersan Saner stated that due to the decrease of pandemic cases in the country, as of 22 February 2021, it has been decided to open some businesses and/or activities gradually. Saner has announced the latest decisions taken by the Council of Ministers regarding the Covid-19 restrictions and measures as follows:

 -A curfew will be imposed between 8pm and 5am from Monday (February 22)- Friday (February 26) and between 8pm on Friday (February 26) until 5am on Monday (March 1), except to meet basic needs.  Due to the steady decline in the number of locally transmitted cases in our country, a decision has been taken to gradually open businesses and/or activities as of 22 February 2021.

-As of 22.02.2021, all businesses and activities apart from supermarkets, bakeries, butchers, greengrocers, petrol stations, pharmacies, agriculture, livestock and related industrial enterprises, will be closed on Saturdays.

-As of 22.02.2021, all businesses and activities will be closed on Sundays, except for pharmacies and bakeries.

-From Monday – Friday:

Markets will be open between 8am and 6pm. (Including Saturdays) Retail and merchandising services (except supermarkets and workplaces supplying all sectors) will be open between 10am and 6pm.

Activities involving resupplying open businesses, including taking orders and arranging shelves will be allowed. Orders, sales and delivery will be carried out between 8am and 6pm. Shelf stackers will be allowed to work after 6pm

Places that are closed;

-Theatres and movie salons, show centres, concert halls, engagement-wedding halls, birthdays, collective worship, casinos, bars, taverns, coffeehouses, cafes, cafeterias, hookah cafes and halls, internet cafes, all kinds of game halls, Children’s playgrounds, clubs, swimming pools, massage salons, spa, indoor sports halls, open buffet restaurants, hairdressers, barbers, beauty salons, tattooists, open markets, night clubs, clubs, Turkish baths, saunas.

Open places;

All businesses and activities that are not stated implicitly can be open under the conditions stated below.

– Restaurant, cafe, buffet, sandwich shop, bakeries etc. services will only be provided in the form of delivery, online and pick-up services. Seating areas will not be used in these sectors. Package services will be provided between 07:00 and 21:00.

– There will be no try-on of clothes in the clothing industry.

– Betting offices will be able to operate at the door without using sitting areas.

In open businesses, an arrangement will be made maximum 1 person in 5 m2 area according to the total of customers and employees. In order to protect the social distance, these enterprises will be made more active by placing a sign on the entrances of the enterprises regarding the m2 areas and how many people can be in the enterprise, including employees. In addition, the enterprises providing service will work with a rotation method or with reduced personnel. People working in sectors that are open will have to repeat PCR tests every fifteen days.

It will be appropriate for individuals to meet their essential needs from businesses closest to their residence.

Institutions that will be open:

Ministry of Health and its personnel, Ministry of Finance and its personnel, police, fire brigade, municipality, civil defence, district security boards, Customs, Central Prison, BRTK, TAK, TÜK, KIBTEK, Personnel to be assigned for emergency services in the Milk Institution, yellow press card holders and/or press employees, the indispensable departments of universities will work at full capacity.

The Ministry personnel deemed necessary to work in the departments and institutions affiliated with the ministries will continue their duties as determined by the highest authority.

In order not to interrupt all services at the Air and Sea Ports, minimum personnel will be employed.

1. Since the prevalence of infection is lower in Lefke-Güzelyurt-İskele-Famagusta districts and in order to prevent the spread of infection to these districts except for essential transitions, it has been deemed appropriate that the passages from Lefkoşa and Girne districts to the above-mentioned districts are controlled by the District Police Boards.

2. It is obligatory to measure temperature at the entrances, to comply with the social distance rule, to maintain social distance in square meters in workplaces that are open for essential needs, and to apply hygiene and disinfection conditions both inside the workplace and at the entrances and exits, and to take and implement these measures is the employer’s responsibility.

3. It has been deemed appropriate to stop face-to-face education in all public and private schools and all pre-school, primary and secondary education will be carried out online. All these, including day-care centres and private education centres will cease until 28 February 2021. Considering the prevalence of the epidemic in the society and the curfew, it was decided to stop the services of special needs education institutions. However, kindergartens will be open on demand in order not to interrupt the services in the sectors that will remain open.

4. Patients and their attendants residing in Northern Cyprus and receiving medical treatment in Southern Cyprus will be able to enter the TRNC without quarantine provided that they document their appointments at the border gates. The patient and accompanying persons (if necessary) who will be transferring for health purposes are required to submit negative PCR test results done within the last 3 days upon arrival. In addition, patients and accompanying persons should repeat the PCR tests in the 7th and the 14th day of their returning to the TRNC.

5. Those who do trade under the Green Line Regulation without physical contact are exempt from the quarantine restriction provided that they receive permission of the District Police Boards.

6. It has been decided that only ambulances for health purposes can cross the Yeşilırmak Border Gate without quarantine. Other than that, quarantine is required.

7. Those who reside or work in Pile will be able to make a daily pass without quarantine, provided that they submit negative PCR test results in the last seven days.

8. UN, EU, British Bases, Buffer Zone and Peace Forces employees will be able to enter the TRNC without quarantine as long as they submit negative PCR test results done within 72 hours.
9. Only TRNC citizens and those who have permanent residence in the TRNC and have been in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa within last 14 days will be allowed to enter the country provided that they will be subject to central quarantine for 14 days.

10. It has been decided that funerals can be held with the participation of only first-degree relatives.

11. It has been decided that those who reside in the North and work in South or work in the North and reside in South will be able to make a daily pass without quarantine, provided that they submit the negative PCR test results within the last 7 days.

12. Provided that it is documented by the relevant school that there is no online education application, students residing in the North and studying in the schools specified in South will be able to pass daily without quarantine, provided that they submit the negative PCR test results made in the last 7 days.

13. It is planned by the Ministry of National Education and Culture to bring university students to the island intensively. Considering that some of the students coming to our country come from high places of the contamination, it is an inevitable fact that if the specified quarantine conditions are not strictly followed, it will cause an unavoidable contamination in the future. For this reason, the quarantine conditions of the students to be brought to the island according to the number of the students will be ensured by the Ministry of Finance and security personnel will be ensured by hotels and dormitories in centers where students will be quarantined; it is vital that students have to submit negative PCR test results done in the last 3 days when they enter the country, stay in quarantine for 10 or 14 days within the scope of quarantine practices of the country they come from, and fulfill the conditions of the students to be tested when they enter and exit the country with great care.

14. Those who reside in Beyarmudu can only make daily crossings to the British Bases without quarantine for the purpose of agriculture and livestock.

15. District Police Boards will be authorised to give permission in order to meet the essential needs that may arise other than the above.