COVID19: New cases drop, admissions up

Cyprus reported fewer new infections of COVID-19 on Tuesday, dropping from 410 to 365, but the number of patients presently admitted at state hospitals continued to rise, reaching 222, of whom an unprecedented 50 are critical.

The health ministry said in its daily bulletin that one person died in Limassol, a 90 year old man, raising the death toll since the pandemic started to 246.

However, this was the fifth death in as many days of people who had not been vaccinated.

All the pensioners who died from the coronavirus had underlying health conditions, but authorities attributed their deaths directly to COVID-19.

The previous deaths were a 95-year-old woman treated at Limassol General on Sunday, a man, 91, who died at Nicosia General on Saturday, an 82-year-old woman, and a man, 90, who died on Monday.

The health ministry said that of the 50 critical patients, 28 were in intensive care units within the Covid wards, up from 22 on Sunday and 25 on Monday.

The ministry said that due to the growing needs, an intensive care unit was mobilised at Larnaca General hospital on Monday and one in Paphos on Tuesday.

 

Positive test rate at 0.99%

In all, 36,702 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted on Tuesday, diagnosing 365 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 for a positive test rate of 0.99%, higher than Monday’s 0.95%. This raised the total of all infections during the past 12 months to 42,993.

Of these, 125 were identified through contact tracing, three tested positive among 500 samples from passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 99 were positive for COVID-19 from private and state hospital labs.

A further 138 were diagnosed through rapid tests, of which 61 were in Limassol, 33 in Nicosia, 17 in Larnaca, 9 in Paphos and three in Famagusta district.

Some 639 tests of staff and residents at retirement homes were all negative, as were 341 samples from workers in industrial zones and 475 soldiers service in the National Guard.

Of the 3,509 tests by mobile units at public and special schools, one tested positive.