TRNC government assured public of safety, says measures in place

TRNC Health Minister Ali Pilli on Wednesday assured the public that all measures are in place for opening of the county to new arrivals and that no problems will be experienced as long as everyone complies with the rules.

Speaking on BRT, Pilli said that opening up the TRNC to arrivals was inevitable as commercial flights to and from the TRNC would have had to begin sooner or later adding that everyone needed to comply to safety and health measures.

It is essential that everyone maintains social distancing, continues to wear their masks, give special attention to personnel hygenie and obey the rules in place, Pilli added.

He pointed out that the health ministry was working 24/7 and that he had personally inspected the measures in place at Ercan Airport.

Pilli reminded that at present the number of travellers will be limited according to the TRNC’s testing capacity.

We shall be acting with health as our priority. We shall continue to take all measures and we shall insist on continuing these measures, he said, explaining that the TRNC could currently carry out 800-900 tests per day.

The TRNC health minister added that there were no shortages of testing kits.

Pilli also said that there would be no need to panic if a few cases were detected in the period ahead.
He added that legal action would be taken against passengers who failed to comply with the rules upon arrival at Ercan Airport.

Pilli also spoke of work being carried out with Turkey to set up a DNA lab at the airport to carry out 3000 PCR tests a day for a period of three months.

He said that the process to hire new nurses had begun and that a total of 45 additional nurses would be hired.

We are stronger than we were before and are ready for a possible second wave. We have determined a roadmap and the infrastructure has been upgraded, Pilli added.

BRT