Two men died on Christmas Day in Cyprus, as the island prepares for the arrival of the first coronavirus vaccines in an effort to control the spread of the virus that has so far taken 109 lives.
The two men, aged 71 and 73, had underlying health issues and were being treated at Limassol General hospital. So far, 70 have been men and 39 women, for an average age of all deaths of 79 years.
December is by far the worst month since the pandemic started, accounting for 58 of the deaths to date.
The health ministry said 148 patients were being treated in state hospitals, of whom 42 are critical. This was still two more patients than the previous high of 146 on Wednesday, when 34 were in a critical state.
The dedicated Covid-clinic at Famagusta General hospital had 64 patients.
The worsening situation, undeterred by the arrival of the first vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech this weekend, vindicated the government’s earlier decision to extend restriction measures beyond the initial December 31 deadline, to January 10.
These include a daily curfew from 9pm and shutting down all malls, cafés, restaurants, bars, theatres and cinemas.
A brief relaxation was introduced to allow Christmas Day movements up to 11pm and on New Year’s Eve up to 1am. Church services, that were supposed to be closed to the public, allowed 75 people for Christmas mass and a similar relaxation on Epiphany Day, January 6.
People took advantage of the maximum allowance of ten per household to visit friends and family for Christmas lunches and dinners, albeit in a muted celebratory mood.
The government-sponsored free rapid tests were suspended for Christmas Day and will resume on Boxing Day.
In all, 1,407 tests were carried out on Friday – 1,283 employing the PCR molecular method and 124 antigen rapid tests conducted privately.
The lower-than-normal test numbers diagnosed 50 positive cases of SARS-CoV-2, raising the total number of infections since March to 19,366, while the rapid tests produced only 6 positive cases that will require PCR confirmation.
Despite the increase in Cypriot students and other Cyprus residents returning home for the holidays, the health ministry said that the 299 tests of passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports were all negative.
