Cyprus health authorities confirmed six cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, one was linked to the UK while the other five were traced to cases in Limassol where experts fear a new cluster is forming.
The six cases were found from 1,682 tests bringing the number of total infections since March to 1,053.
One person who tested positive had a recent history of travel and was included among 288 samples of people who were tested by private initiative.
He was a Cypriot living in the UK who came to the island on 16 July and provided a negative COVID-19 test on arrival.
A test came back positive as he was nearing the end of his mandatory quarantine, the Health Ministry said.
The other cases that tested positive were all linked to previous ‘orphan’ infections in Limassol which were not connected to travel or people who had contracted the virus.
They were detected from 140 samples through the tracing of contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases procedure, the Ministry of Health said.
No one tested positive out of 175 tests completed after referrals from GPs and the screening of special groups of people through the public health centres.
All of the 896 tests on passengers and Cypriot residents who were repatriated were negative as were 128 tests on employees in businesses which resumed operations after the lockdown and 55 tests from the general hospital Microbiology Labs.
Infographics
According to an infographics bulletin issued by the Ministry of Health 1,045 people contracted COVID-19 up to 23 July, 26 people who tested positive passed away, while COVID-19 was the cause of death for 19 of them.
A total of 852 people or 83.6% recovered while 21,758.3 tests per 100,000 population were completed.
Between June 24 and July 23, 75% of the people who contracted the disease were men while 25% were women and 89% were aged between 18 to 59.
Another 7% were aged 17 or under while 4% was over 60, some 34 cases were imported while 21 were locally transmitted.
During the same period, there were two new hospital admissions on June 28 and July 7, one of whom was discharged on July 6.
