COVID19: New cases, patient numbers edge up, no deaths

Cyprus reported a mild increase in new coronavirus cases to 470 on Sunday, with the number of patients treated for COVID-19 also on the up, rising to 225 and nearing the national health system’s bed capacity.

The health ministry said that new cases rose from 446 to 470, as the past week has seen general mobility in society as many defied health protocols and took advantage of the good weather the previous weekend for outings to seaside restaurants and cafés.

That also explains why the number of patients treated for COVID-19 also rose, from 204 on Saturday to 225, with the critical cases also rising from 52 to 57.

No deaths were reported on Sunday, following Saturday’s four and the April total rising to 16. The death toll since the pandemic started remains at 272.

With 55,096 PCR and antigen rapid tests conducted on Sunday, based on the 470 new cases of SARS-CoV-2, the national test positivity rate has improved slightly to 0.85% from 0.90% the day before.

This also raised the total of all infections during the past 13 months to 51,505.

Sunday’s new coronavirus cases saw 94 identified through the contact tracing method from 778 samples, with 95 diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests, while 281 resulted from the rapid testing programme.

Nicosia accounted for most of the positive results from the rapid tests, with 102 infections resulting in a test positivity rate of 0.47%. Although Limassol reported fewer 92 cases, the positivity rate was higher at 0.63% because of the higher concentration from fewer tests.

Larnaca had 53 positive test results and the highest positivity rate of 0.66%, while Paphos had 23 new cases (0.49%) and Famagusta district had 8 (0.28%).

One person tested positive from targeted testing of 629 athletes and sportsmen, while on Saturday one new case was diagnosed from 346 athletes, following a scare of a new cluster being formed after eight players of the national football squad tested positive after they returned from an Under-18 game in Greece a week earlier.