Cyprus to pay holiday costs of tourists infected with coronavirus

Cyprus will pay your holiday costs if you are infected with coronavirus after travelling to the country.

The government has said it would pay for accommodation, medicine and food for patients and their families.

A letter made public today pledges that tourists "will only need to bear the cost of their airport transfer and repatriation flight".

Travellers arriving into Greece will be randomly tested.

Those who test positive will be looked after at the expense of the Cyprus government along with their families who will be put into dedicated quarantine-hotels.

The letter said: "The Cyprus government is committed to taking care of all travelers who test positive during their stay, as well as their families and close contacts.

"The government will cover the cost of lodging, food, drink, and medication, in all cases mentioned above; the traveler will only need to bear the cost of their airport transfer and repatriation flight, in collaboration with their agent and/or airline."

The government revealed that a COVID-19 hospital with 100 beds will be made available "exclusively for travellers who test positive".

It added: "If travelers show critical symptoms, an additional 112 intensive care units are available for their treatment, with 200 respirators on hand at any time for their perusal."

It's hope the offer will help attract back tourists to the island which has 939 confirmed infections and 17 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Cyprus will open on June 9 to travellers from countries including Germany, Greece and Israel.

A group of other countries from mainly central Europe will be added on June 20.

But Brits will be banned from Cyprus when it reopens because of our poor coronavirus record.

However, Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios announced today that he expects to be able to re-admit British and Russian visitors by July after weeks of lockdown.