Coronavirus: frenzy of last-minute repatriation flights as lockdown approaches 

A total of 255 people were repatriated back to Cyprus by 5pm on Friday and taken to designated quarantine locations.

Passengers arrived at Larnaca airport from Kiev, Moscow, Athens and Monaco. The last flight is set to arrive to Larnaca from Thessaloniki at 9.30pm. However, the number of passengers is currently unknown.

A flight is set to arrive to Paphos airport shortly before 11pm from Manchester but without any passengers.

Additionally, at 3.45am on Saturday, the first chartered Aegean flight from Heathrow, Britain will be arriving at Larnaca with around 200 repatriated passengers.

At 3am on Saturday, a decree comes into effect banning all flight arrivals at the republic’s two airports, valid for 14 days.

A total of 700 people in Greece and Britain are expected to be repatriated on flights chartered by the government.

Also on Friday, a total of 548 passengers departed from Paphos airport to Britain.

Another scheduled flight to Manchester is set to fly out at 10pm.

By Friday afternoon, four flights had left Cyprus, heading to Manchester, Stansted, Gatwick, Birmingham carrying all 548 passengers.

A total of 12 flights are scheduled to depart from Paphos in the early hours of Saturday heading to Berlin, various airports in London, Manchester and Birmingham.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.