COVID19: 3 deaths pushes January closer to December record

Cyprus reported three more coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, pushing the January total to 70, closing in fast on December’s record 76, as the government decided to relax some lockdown restrictions in place until the end of the month.

From February 1, Cyprus will allow gradual relaxation of lockdown measures following a fall in COVID-19 infections, including the reopening of primary schools and shopping malls.

The COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic started is now 193, with 155 patients admitted for treatment in state hospitals and 128 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosed from among 12,133 tests. This is up from 109 the day before.

The total infections since March is 30,380.

The three new deaths were a woman, aged 76, and two men, 80 and 84, all with underlying health issues.

The health ministry said that of the 155 patients, 52 are critical, while 47 are at the Covid-reference clinic at Famagusta General hospital. On Tuesday, the number of patients was 160.

The new coronavirus cases were diagnosed from 48 contacts traced to previous infections, and 57 from the less-accurate rapid tests.

Some 96 samples from passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports were negative, as were 44 tests conducted on passengers who had arrived from the U.K. and were in quarantine in local hotels, and required a negative test to be allowed to go home.

At 29, Limassol once again had most of the positive cases diagnosed from the rapid tests, followed by 10 in Larnaca, 10 in Nicosia, 2 in Famagusta district and 1 in Paphos.