COVID19: Cyprus cases smash 10,000 barrier, hospitals at capacity

Cyprus’ coronavirus spike shows no signs of abating after health authorities reported another 248 cases on Saturday taking total infections since March to 10,231.

November is already the worst month on record, posting three-digit cases daily while the month accounts for around 60% of total infections.

Inevitably, the surge has had a knock-on effect on the health system with the number of hospital patients at a high of 114, 16 of whom are in intensive care.

A crushing second wave has prompted the government to impose an eight-hour curfew from Monday among other restrictions such as restaurants and bars closing at 7 pm.

From November 30, Cyprus will lift local lockdowns in Limassol and Paphos as it opts for a national strategy to contain the virus.

The Health Ministry said that 14,455 coronavirus tests were conducted Satruday, of which under half, 6,590 employed the more accurate PCR molecular method, producing 179 positive COVID-19 cases.

Most cases through PCR tests were 65 from 546 samples as part of contact tracing and 59 cases were confirmed from 1,950 samples taken on a private initiative.

Only one case was detected from 494 tests on passenger arrivals at the airports.

A further 69 samples from the less reliable antigen rapid test kits conducted on previous days were positive, raising the day’s tally to 248 and the total since the pandemic started to 10,231.

From 7,865 rapid tests produced 104 positive infections which require confirmation via a PCR test.

These test results point to the virus spreading to new potential hotspots such as Nicosia and Famagusta.

Positive infections were discovered in Limassol (4), Larnaca (18), Famagusta (22), Paphos (10), Nicosia (42).

See the 25 new measures from November 30 to 14 December here: https://www.financialmirror.com/2020/11/27/covid19-cyprus-9-pm-curfew-gyms-shut-hospitality-early-closing/