COVID19: Cyprus cases move upwards again

Cyprus health authorities on Friday, on the day after the lockdown was eased, announced a rise in new COVID-19 cases to four from one the previous day.

The four new cases were located among 1,970 coronavirus tests taking the confirmed total to 927 (plus 12 in the British Bases).

Two infections were found at a catering establishment (which has yet to reopen) through random testing of 10,000 workers in hair and beauty salons, restaurants and tattoo parlours (380 tests Friday)

One tested positive out of 598 tests conducted on students and school staff. The Education Ministry will announce further details.

Another case was identified from 281 test conducted at state hospital labs.

Member of the Health Ministry’s Epidemiological Monitoring Unit, virologist Dr Leontios Kostrikis in light of the latest data called the public to be vigilant.

Kostrikis warned that “gradually lifting the bans and exiting the lockdown creates a new state of affairs, which requires strict adherence to health protocols.

We call on everyone to follow the health decrees and hygiene instructions and to be extremely careful”.

Dr Marios Loizou of the Cyprus State Health Services Organisation said five people are inpatients at Famagusta General, which operates as the reference hospital for COVID-19. One of the patients is in the acute care unit.

Two patients are on a ventilator at Nicosia General Hospital ICU and two more patients are being treated in the same ICU but are breathing without the help of a ventilator.

Dr Loizou said that in recent days, both the World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Control have reported that they expect a second wave of the virus.

“These reports are not intended to scare people or to set the stage for a return to normalcy, but are based on the facts that tell us that the virus is still here, as evident by a large number of cases in countries such as the United States, Brazil, and Russia.”