The European Commission has sent more than half a million rapid antigen tests to Cyprus to facilitate checks to contain the spread of the pandemic, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Friday.

It said the head of the European Commission representation in Cyprus Ierotheos Papadopoulos visited the Pancyprian Gymnasium and Panayia Palouriotissa Church in Nicosia where health ministry teams are carrying out antigen tests, using some of the batches sent from the EU, it added.

When the decision to support member states with more than 20 million rapid tests was first announced EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides stressed that these offer speed, reliability and quick responses to isolate Covid-19 cases which is crucial to slow down the spread of the pandemic.