Cyprus on Sunday confirmed another seven new COVID-19 cases, as the daily count dropped to a single-digit figure for the first time in a week as fewer tests were carried out.
The last time Cyprus had reported less than 10 cases was on 9 August, when the health authorities confirmed 9 cases.
Sunday’s cases were detected from 2,475 tests, bringing the total number of infections to 1,339 and 20 deaths.
On Saturday, there were a higher 14 infections detected after 3,813 tests.
The Health Ministry noted that the number of tests carried out on Sunday was lower than previous days as a number of labs remained closed over the holiday weekend.
Three of the infections had a recent travel history, all found after being tested upon their arrival to Cyprus.
Two cases involve passengers, a Greek citizen permanently residing in Cyprus and a Cypriot woman. Both were on board a flight from Thessalonica, Greece, arriving on Sunday.
The third case with a travel history involved a Nigerian, permanent resident returning from his home country on Saturday through Athens.
In a worrying development, another two cases were found after random testing carried out in Larnaca.
One of the cases had sought to be tested after developing symptoms.
They were found among 734 tests carried out on Sunday as part of the 10,000 random tests conducted by the Health Ministry.
Another case was a Cypriot who was tested at a private lab after developing symptoms, the Health Ministry said while one was a patient sent for testing by his General Practitioner after developing symptoms.
According to the Health Ministry, there are now two patients being treated at Famagusta General, the reference hospital for COVID-19, with one of them in the hospital’s Acute Care Unit (ACU).
They are said to be in a stable condition.
One patient was discharged from the hospital on Sunday.
Turkish Cypriot authorities, in a worrying turn of events, have also reported an increase in daily cases, with the figure on Saturday reaching 13, out of which five were local infections.
Initially, Turkish Cypriot health authorities had reported 10 cases, but around midnight, the head of the health authorities in the north Ali Pilli said there were another three cases found.
Total COVID-19 infections in the Turkish occupied north now stands at 209 and four deaths.
Turkish Cypriot authorities have reported some 104 COVID-19 cases since 1 July when the north opened up its ports of entry to travellers, arriving mainly from Turkey.
Divided Cyprus has a combined 1,548 coronavirus cases and 24 deaths.