New COVID-19 cases dropped slightly to 273 on Friday, below the 300 level that had been breached throughout most of the week, with health officials warning that if health protocols are not respected, Cyprus could face a third coronavirus wave.
Maria Koliou, Assistant Professor of Paediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the University of Cyprus, said earlier in the day that the country is far from being in the clear and the situation could easily take a turn for the worse.
“If we let the virus resurge and we do not pay attention and we view the relaxation of the measures as an opportunity to avoid implementing them, then we may have a problem on our hands,” said Koliou.
Daily coronavirus cases took a plunge to two-digit numbers last month, after the second lockdown was imposed on January 10 following a peak in daily infections to 907 on December 29.
However, just a few days before the announcement of the first set of relaxations by the health ministry for February, new daily cases of SARS-CoV-2 returned to three-digit levels and have since increased to around 300.
The health ministry said that no deaths were reported for the second day in a row, with the death toll at 232 since the pandemic started. February had 30 deaths attributed directly to CVID-19, while December and January were worst months on record, with 76 deaths each.
However, the number of patients admitted to the four state hospitals for treatment rose to 111, up from 101 the day before and 89 on Wednesday, while the critical cases also rose from 22 on Thursday to 27.
Record 58,000 tests
A record 57,926 PCR and rapid tests were conducted on Friday, of which 10,147 were held at 36 schools, diagnosing 11 new cases of SARS-CoV-2, with parents and teachers bickering over the need for testing.
The 273 new coronavirus infections increased the total for the past 12 months to 36,277.
About 58 were identified through contact tracing of known infections, one was a passenger among 502 samples taken from arrivals at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 25 from other tests.
However, 189 were from private lab rapid tests and 55,358 as part of the free national rapid test programme, which is expected to increase over the weekend as teacher and students return for their weekly mandatory testing.
The biggest number of infections was once again in Limassol, with 116 new cases, followed by Nicosia (30), Larnaca (9), Paphos (7) and Famagusta (4).
Limassol accounts for 68% of all Cyprus Covid-19 cases, with the town classified as a high risk ‘dark red’ zone by the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC), the health ministry said Friday.
According to the ministry’s latest surveillance report, a total of 1,592 or 68% of 2,340 cases recorded in the past two weeks were in Limassol with clusters located in schools.
The district has now pushed past the 600 per 100,000 mark, which the ECDC categorises as a dark red zone.
The total test figure also included 7,605 samples taken from businesses throughout the week, with testing conducted by designated in-house health and safety officers. Of these, 6 were positive for COVID-19.
