COVID19: Two more deaths, hospital patients at 149

Arrival of the Pfizer vaccine in Cyprus on Saturday couldn’t have come quick enough as two more hospital patients died of COVID-19 with the total rising to 111.

December is officially the worst month since the pandemic started with more than half the deaths coming this month alone.

Due to the Christmas holiday there were a much lower number of tests on Saturday detecting 25 cases edging total infections to 19,391.

The only light at the end of a dark COVID tunnel is the arrival of the first vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech on Saturday with the rollout starting Sunday.

Two elderly men aged 87 and 73, who died had underlying health issues. One was being treated at the dedicated Covid hospital at Famagusta General and the other at Limassol General.

The average age of those who have died from the virus is 79 while 65% (72) have been men.

Currently, 149 patients are being treated for COVID in state hospitals, 45 of them are in a critical condition, said the Health Ministry.

It said a total 3,866  tests were carried out – 536 employing the PCR molecular method and 3,330 antigen rapid tests.

From the latter group, 208 new cases were discovered that require confirmation using more accurate PCR tests.

Famagusta had the highest positivity rate (9.64%) with 27 cases from 280 tests carried out, the second was Larnaca (7.95%) with 35 cases from 440 rapid test, Limassol (7.32%) had 41 from 560, Paphos (5.11%) 17 positives from 333 tests and Nicosia (4.63%) 70 cases from 1,512 tests.