Cyprus revealed a plan Wednesday to gradually ease lockdown measures and lift a two-month shutdown to combat the novel coronvairus. President Nicos Anastasiades announced some of the emergency regulations would be eased from May 4 and further lifted in stages as a precaution against a new spike in COVID-19 cases. The first phase will see the reopening of the key construction sector. Retailers and markets will also reopen, but shopping malls will remain closed until later. Under the lockdown measures, Cyprus residents were only permitted to leave the house once per day for limited purposes, and needed to obtain government permission via SMS for each trip. The number of permitted outtings will be raised to three per day from Monday, Anastasiades said. A night-time curfew will remain in place, but the start time will be pushed back to 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) from 9:00 pm. Parks, marinas and playgrounds will remain closed. The Republic of Cyprus, which controls the southern two-thirds of the divided eastern Mediterranean island, has recorded 843 cases including 15 deaths from the novel Coronavirus since early March. The breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara, has reported 108 cases including four deaths. cc/sw/par