A second death and seven new confirmed cases were announced by authorities in North Cyprus on Wednesday.
This brings the total of confirmed cases to 77.
An 83-year-old woman from Germany who was in hospital with coronavirus is the second person to have died in the north. She died on Wednesday.
The woman was among the group of German tourists placed in quarantine by Turkish Cypriot authorities after one of their co-travellers was tested positive to coronavirus earlier in March.
The 83-year-old was admitted to hospital on March 20 and in the intensive care unit four days later. She had underlying health conditions.
A 73-year-old man, also from Germany died last Saturday.
Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Kudret Ozersay, announced on Wednesday that they were in contact with German officials as regards the bodies of the two persons who died expressing hope that there would be no setbacks and that they would be sent back to their country to be buried. Their bodies were expected to be sent back on Wednesday evening along with 28 German tourists who were diagnosed with Covid-19 and were discharged after their treatment.
Ozersay said that in total 32 German tourists were treated in the north for coronavirus including the two persons who died.
“Every life, every person regardless religion, language, colour or origin, is valuable,” Ozersay said also extending his condolences to the families of the deceased and the German people.
Elsewhere in the north, a supermarket in Nicosia and two in Kyrenia have been temporarily closed down after it emerged during checks they were not following the health measures announced to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Yeni Duzen reported that customs workers at the Famagusta port, reacted strongly to pressure to unload a cargo ship that arrived from the UK through Spain a day before the obligatory 14-day quarantine expired for the vessel and crew. The head of the workers’ union told the daily that following consultations with the authorities, they would unload the ship’s cargo on Thursday, when the quarantine ends.
In the meantime, former head of the Democratic Party, Serdar Denktash, called on the ‘government’ to support Ozersay’s idea of a ‘crisis government’ to see steer things through the coronavirus crisis.
When life gets back to normal, the old administration could take over again, Denktash said in an open letter he posted on his Facebook account.
Denktash, who is an ‘MP’ of the Democratic Party, said that Ozersay had put this idea on the table during a recent meeting between parties but was ignored.
He said that the ‘government’ has been trying to please various sectors with the measures it announced and that additional ones were necessary arguing that businesses, unable to stay afloat would eventually close down while there will be no tourists or foreign students.
Meanwhile, the repatriation of Turkish Cypriots continues.
On Wednesday afternoon, 128 Turkish Cypriots arrived in the north on a chartered flight from Istanbul. Another flight is expected to arrive on Saturday from Ankara.
