Cyprus is struggling to control the coronavirus pandemic with new cases soaring to a 7-week high of 272 on Friday, suggesting that the recent relaxation of lockdown restrictions have backfired.
Retail stores gradually reopened two weeks ago and the majority of employees returned to work, as elementary school pupils and lyceum graduating students were back in class this week.
Although no one was reported to have died due to COVID-19 for the second day in a row and the month’s death toll remains at 30, a record 44,000 tests diagnosed 272 new cases of SARS-CoV-2.
The previous high at this level was on January 11 with 288 new cases, a day after the second lockdown was imposed in Cyprus having spiralled to 907 on December 29. That number continued to drop and fell below 200 on January 17, remaining in the 100 to 130 range up until last week.
Tuesday saw a rise to 176 new cases, dropping to 143 on Wednesday and rising again to 199 on Thursday.
The death toll remains unchanged at 231, with December and January the deadliest months on record with 76 each. Of these, 154 were men (67%) and 77 women, with an average age of 79 years.
The ministry said that 80 patients are currently being treated for the coronavirus, two less than than the day before, of whom 17 are critical, also down from Thursday and significantly less than the 25 on Wednesday.
A record 43,958 tests were conducted on Friday, with the new coronavirus cases from last March rising to 34,181. Of these, 79 were positive results from 394 contact tracing samples, while 149 were identified from private and the free national rapid testing programme.
Once again, Limassol accounted for the majority of new cases, with 93 of the positive results from the national programme of free rapid tests in that town.
Limassol infections are soaring, accounting for 70% of all COVID-19 cases, threatening to reverse progress made in recent months.
Cyprus’ 14-day cumulative rate was 614.3 per 100,000 in December and dropped to 164 last week, according to the Health Ministry’s surveillance report.
However, the virus remains unchecked in Limassol, with seven out of 10 new cases from the district.
The rest of the positive results from the rapid tests were in Nicosia with 24, Larnaca (9), Paphos (5) and Famagusta (5).
Some 269 samples taken from passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports all tested negative, as did 7,463 on site tests at various businesses throughout this week.
