Four nuns at a Nicosia-based monastery reportedly tested positive to Covid-19, it emerged on Friday.

The cases were traced to the female Panagia Pantanassa Monastery in Kotsiatis, which will be disinfected.

According to initial media reports, the nuns were expected to be transferred to the Eden resort rehabilitation centre.

No information was released on how the nuns, who live permanently at the monastery, got infected.

Thirteen other nuns at the monastery have undergone rapid tests which came up negative.

Earlier this year, a resident reported to Haravgi newspaper that the specific church does not abide by the health protocols.

According to the complaint published mid-January, the church used to operate every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning with dozens of pilgrims, despite a decree forbidding church services with the presence of the public.

After a personal visit on Epiphany, January 6, the person told the newspaper “the church was suffocatingly full, most of the people were without masks and the heating that was on made the atmosphere very suffocating. I went out in the yard because I was afraid to stay inside.”