Cyprus reported an increase in new coronavirus cases to 410 on Monday, as well as patients treated for COVID-19 and two people died, raising the death toll since the pandemic started to 245.
An 82 year old woman and a 90 year old man, both with underlying health issues, died at the dedicated Covid reference clinic at Famagusta General Hospital.
To date, 162 of the deaths have been men (66%) and 83 women, with an average age of 79 years.
The health ministry said that 217 are currently admitted in six state hospitals, being treated for COVID-19. This is up from 212 the day before and 201 on Saturday.
Of these, 51 were critical, six more than the day before, testing the 400-bed capacity of the Covid wards in the national health system.
The newest Covid ward opened in Paphos on Saturday with admitting four patients.
A total of 43,173 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted on Monday, diagnosing 410 new cases of SARS-CoV-2. This resulted in a positive test rate of 0.95%, higher than previous days.
So far, there have been 42,628 cases of Covid infections.
The new cases included 146 identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, 12 tested positive from 1,449 samples taken among passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports and 41 were diagnosed from tests conducted at private clinics and state hospitals.
A further 211 tested positive from rapid tests, with Limassol, once again, by far accounting for most of the new case at 116. Nicosia followed with 38 positive cases, 17 in Paphos, 11 in Larnaca and 9 in Famagusta district.
Some 1,131 tests of staff and residents at retirement home were all negative for COVID-19. However, one person tested positive among 1,099 tests at two industrial zones in Limassol and Nicosia, as did two soldiers among 795 samples in the National Guard.
In education, six were positive among 2,906 tests at public schools and special education institutions.
The health ministry concluded that one person who had been in quarantine at a local hotel for seven days after arriving from the U.K., tested negative and was released.
