Cyprus, like many European countries, is currently experiencing an increase in morbidity following the outbreak of the third wave of the corona. Although the morbidity and mortality rates on the island are among the lowest in the world, in the last month there has been a sharp increase in the number of verified. Despite this, the government decided to open the restaurants yesterday (Tuesday), making it a little easier for the islanders who groan under Corona restrictions. But the local health ministry has imposed drastic to ridiculous restrictions on restaurants, which have provoked angry reactions from restaurateurs and public ridicule.
The Ministry of Health’s most bizarre demand from diners, was “to put a face mask between each bite and bite.” A large number of restaurant owners, who were required to enforce the bizarre installation, announced that they would not open the business. “The last time I was required to be a food cop was when my son was two years old,” joked a restaurant owner from Paphos. “This is an illogical and impractical directive,” said Panus Levantis, secretary general of the Local Recreation Association.
Among the public, too, the demand was ridiculed and derided, when social media offered a large number of recipes for a “one-bite meal” – which is as disgusting as it sounds.
Another puzzling demand was to ban “any music that could make people dance.” “Can a cop decide which music causes to dance and which does not?” Leventis wondered. On social media, many have warned restaurateurs that “even playing classical music can cause older couples to crack a stormy ball.”
After an urgent meeting of representatives of the Ministry of Health with representatives of the Restaurant Association, the Ministry of Health agreed to cancel and update some of the strange regulations already last night. For example, it was decided to abolish the obligation to wear a mask between bites, but to demand the wearing of a mask whenever customers do not sit at the table (under the rules of social distance), even when they go to the bathroom. As for music, the Cypriot Ministry of Health realized that musical taste was not really enforceable – and canceled the installation. However, the ban on dancing in restaurants, even at the tables, remains in place.