Ten thousand doses of foot-and-mouth vaccine will be delivered on Wednesday to Republic of Cyprus authorities by the Turkish Cypriot side, as efforts continue to contain recent outbreaks.
Leonidas Fylaktou, the Greek Cypriot co-chair of the bicommunal Technical Committee on Health, said the vaccines form part of the total quantity sent by the European Commission to the Turkish Cypriot side, through the Republic of Cyprus, to address cases detected in the occupied areas in recent months.
He said the Republic of Cyprus had requested 20,000 doses. Of these, 10,000 will be delivered during the day on Wednesday, with the remaining 10,000 expected next week.
According to a previous announcement, in mid-February the European Commission delivered 500,000 doses of foot-and-mouth vaccine to the competent authority of the Republic of Cyprus to support vaccination activities in areas where the government does not exercise effective control.
In the occupied areas, “agriculture minister” Huseyin Cavus also referred to the shipment of 10,000 doses to the government-controlled areas.
Cavus said cases of foot-and-mouth disease had been identified in the occupied areas as early as December 2025 and claimed he had repeatedly informed the Cypriot authorities, which he said had refused to recognise the seriousness of the situation.
He added that a significant proportion of the affected animals were goats and sheep, which act as carriers of the virus and accelerate its spread. The strain has been identified, while the presence of other subtypes cannot be ruled out due to recorded deaths, he said.
Cavus also referred to the intensification of measures at crossing points.
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