COVID19: Third death in a week, 33 new Cyprus cases

An elderly woman with serious underlying health issues has died of COVID-19, the third death this week with a spike of 33 new cases on Friday, the second-highest since mid-April.

Cyprus is suffering its worst outbreak since the pandemic peaked in April.

The Health Ministry said that the latest coronavirus victim was an 89-year-old woman being treated at Famagusta General Hospital’s Acute Care Unit.

Her death follows that of a 62-year-old man with no underlying health problems on Wednesday and an 82-year-old woman on Tuesday, the first death in a month.

The ministry said the latest death was directly attributed to SARS-CoV-2, with the total number of deaths since the pandemic rising to 25 – 17 men and 8 women – with an average age of 72 years.

It said that the total number of deaths of patients found positive with SARS-CoV-2 rose to 32.

The 33 cases were found from 2,891 tests raising the total number of infections in Cyprus to 1,951.

Friday’s 33 cases are the second-highest since 14 April, two weeks after the first wave peaked at 58 cases on 1 April.

The highest number of daily cases reported since April was on 23 September when authorities reported 36.

Of the 33 new cases, 14 were found to have been infected by a family member.

One was linked to a family cluster numbering five infections, while another three also had a recent travel history.

Nine cases were directly linked to travel with arrivals from the UK, Romania, Doha (Qatar) and Greece.

Two were British tourists who arrived from the UK on 4 October carrying proof of negative coronavirus tests, only to develop symptoms on Thursday.

Both were transferred to the Eden Rehabilitation centre in Tersefanou village, Larnaca.

The rest of the cases involve people, locally infected, who were tested either at private labs or public hospitals after they developed symptoms, including muscle pain, dry cough, fever, and a sore throat.

The Health Ministry said three patients are being treated for SARS-CoV-2 at Famagusta General.

Two more remain in intensive care at Nicosia General.