COVID19: Cyprus transmission rate rises to 1.5

Cyprus’ epidemiological picture has deteriorated with the COVID-19 transmission rate rising dangerously above one to 1.5, according to the latest Health Ministry report Friday.

The increase is attributed to several clusters in Larnaca which is experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases.

There were four clusters reported in Larnaca until Tuesday with more than 50 infections.

As cases shot up since the previous report peaking at 25 cases on 22 September, the transmission rate R(t) increased to between 1.25 and 1.5.

For the spread of the virus to be suppressed the R rate must be under one, so to ensure COVID-19 is not increasing exponentially.

At its peak in Cyprus, one person infected with the virus was transmitting it to three other people on average.

Lockdown was lifted once the transmission rate was kept under one, a signal the pandemic was under control.

Meanwhile, the number of live positive cases in the community has increased from 7 to 12.3 per 100,000 inhabitants in just two weeks.

According to the report, as of September 22, a total of 1,620 COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths (case fatality rate: 1.8%) have been reported in the Republic of Cyprus.

The median age of cases is 39 years (Interquartile range -IQR: 27-55years); 52.3% are male and47.7% are female.

Domestic infections stand at 1,028, or 72% of the 1,428 cases for which the epidemiological history is known.

As of July 1, out of 622 confirmed cases, 36% (224) involved people with recent travel history, 56% (349) were local infections while 8% (49) had an unknown history.

Some 13.4% (217) of COVID-19 cases received hospital care, with 12 patients (5.5%) still being treated at a hospital.

The median age of all hospitalized patients is 62 (Intra-quartile range: 48 -73) with 63.1% of cases involving men.

No patient was in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on 22 September.

Up to 22 September, a total of 357,416 diagnostic tests have been carried out, corresponding to 40,805.6 per 100,000 population.