No quarantine for fully vaccinated UK arrivals

ALL arrivals from the UK can enter North Cyprus without going into quarantine until July 29 if they are “double vaccinated” against Covid-19, the Health Ministry’s Communicable Diseases High Committee announced on Monday.

The government U-turn came after the committee announced last week that the UK had been moved from the TRNC’s “orange” to “red” list, as reported by this paper, which took effect from Monday.

Under the rules at the time the announcement was made, people travelling from the UK would have had to spend 10 days in quarantine, regardless of whether or not they have been vaccinated.

That announcement sparked a backlash from Turkish Cypriot groups in Britain and pressure from Tourism Minister Fikri Ataoğlu. The Cyprus Turkish Youth and Family Association (KTGAB) called it a “great injustice” for fully vaccinated travellers, some of whom, they said, had received their two jabs “just so they could travel to North Cyprus without going into quarantine”.

In a statement the KTGAB said: “Before their flight, a negative PCR test result is a must in the UK. Then when they arrive in the South, they pay 30 euros to do a PCR test again and wait for three hours.

“Lastly, they do a PCR test to cross over to North Cyprus. It is unreasonable that doublevaccinated passengers have to do three PCR tests and quarantine for 10 days.”

The KTGAB added that some Turkish Cypriots living in the UK could only take “two or three weeks off from work” and faced losing their flight tickets.

On Sunday Health Minister Ünal Üstel caved into the pressure, saying that double-vaccinated “TRNC citizens” from the UK would be allowed to enter with negative test results and no quarantine.

The moved was welcomed by Mr Ataoğlu, who said tourism sector representatives had raised the matter with him.

The situation changed again on Monday when the Communicable Diseases High Committee revised the rules for those coming from “red” countries.

It said that people from red list countries who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or who have had the disease can enter with a preflight negative PCR result from the last 72 hours followed by three days quarantine.

An exemption from quarantine, however, has been made for all those travelling from the UK, which it said will be reviewed on July 29.