Content_paragraphs:  Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Cyprus, access to asylum procedures 
  
  in the Republic of Cyprus was suspended altogether. Access to the territory for 
  
  persons seeking asylum was also suspended, including one notable case on 20 March, 
  
  in which a boat carrying 175 Syrian asylum seekers, including 80 children and 25 
  
  women, was prohibited by coastguards from landing.