COVID19: Cyprus cases dip, more hospital patients

Health authorities announced eight new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, as patients at Famagusta General, the country’s COVID-19 hospital, reached its highest number for months with 14 patients.

Cyprus kept its cases in single digits for a second day running, after a spike in cases that peaked at 36 on Wednesday.

Of Friday’s cases, three had a recent travel history, one being an Omonia FC footballer who returned from Athens where the club faced Olympiacos FC in a Champions League playoffs.

Another case involves an Indian national who came to Cyprus from Birmingham and was tested at the airport.

The third travel case was a person from Moldovia who tested positive two days before ending their quarantine.

Five more positive cases were infected locally after reporting symptoms including high fever and a cough.

Among these cases is a Limassol high-school student who was sent to be tested at a hospital lab after developing a fever, dry cough and a sore throat since Tuesday.

None of the cases was reported to be linked to the five Larnaca clusters while the rapid rate of infections seems to be subsiding.

The Health Ministry conducted 2,615 lab tests during the past 24 hours targeting airport arrivals, pre-op checks at hospitals, contact tracing and random tests at schools.

The Ministry launched on Friday a 7,000 testing scheme for footballers and a 3,000 testing scheme for Larnaca residents.

Another 500 tests will be carried out in the village of Achna, Famagusta where a cluster of 21 cases formed at local club Ethnikos Achnas FC.

The new cases of SARS-CoV-2 raised total infections in the Republic to  1,671 with 14 people being treated at the Famagusta General, one of whom is in the hospital’s Acute Care Unit.