NICOSIA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus abolished most travel restrictions on Monday and a further relaxation of domestic COVID-19 measures will be decided later this week, the authorities said.

The Ministry of Transport said that travelers from any country can enter Cyprus by presenting either a certificate of COVID-19 vaccination or recovery or a negative COVID-19 test.

Travelers will no longer be required to take a COVID-19 test on entry and people under 12 years of age will be exempted from any COVID-19 test checks.

Vaccinated people will have no expiry date for the booster dose, while initial vaccination regimens -- for example, the initial two doses or one dose for Johnson vaccine recipients -- will be valid for nine months from the date of their latest dose.

Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said that the epidemiological situation in Cyprus is the best it has been for the last five months and this has allowed the lifting of the requirement to present a SafePass before entering shops and malls, with the exception of restaurants and other hospitality places.

He said that on Tuesday he will confer with the team of scientists advising the government and will then make a suggestion to the government for further relaxation of domestic measures still in force. The cabinet will meet on Wednesday to approve any changes.

However, he said that lifting the use of masks indoors will be one of the last measures to be announced.

As part of the relaxation of restrictions, the authorities have stopped announcing the number of daily COVID-19 infections and that of people being hospitalized. They said the data will be made public once a week.

According to the latest data, in the last 14 days since March 29, there have been 40,795 new infections in Cyprus, down from 59,800 in the previous 14 days. Enditem

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