OVID19: Cases rise, 3 deaths, Larnaca has highest rate

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Cyprus saw an increase in daily coronavirus cases again, rising to 845 on Wednesday, significantly higher than Tuesday’s 760, with Larnaca reporting the highest concentration rate of new infections.

The health ministry said in its daily bulletin that three people died of Covid-19, with the April death toll rising to 50 and the to-date figure since the pandemic started at 306.

The three were a 62 year old man and a 78 year old woman, neither of whom had been vaccinated, and an 88 year old woman who had received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

The number of patients admitted in hospitals dropped slightly to 285, from 292 on Tuesday and below the critical 300-level that was breached earlier in the week. However, the patients in a critical state increased from 73 the day before to 75, with the average age of Covid patients remaining unchanged at 58.6 years.

The health ministry added that the number of PCR and antigen rapid tests dropped to 40,811, which, based om the higher 845 new SARS-CoV-2 cases generated a test positivity rate of a record 2.07%.

In all, 64,565 people have been infected with COVID-19 during the past 13 months.

Of the new coronavirus cases, 113 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, two passengers tested positive from among 1,539 samples taken from arrivals at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 217 were diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests.

A further 513 new cases were identified from rapid tests, of which 151 were in Nicosia with a test positivity rate of 1.37% and 119 were in Limassol (1.43%).

 

Test positivity highest in Larnaca

However, the highest test positivity rate was recorded in Larnaca for the first time, with the number reaching a record 2.19%.

The safe measure for the test positivity rate is considered to be 1.00%.

Some 37 tested positive in Famagusta district (1.65%) and 36 in Paphos (1.21%).

All of the 490 tests of staff and resident at retirement homes were negative for COVID-19.

As schools remain closed for the Greek Orthodox Easter Week, that coincides with the 14-day Lockdown III, there were no mandatory weekly rapid tests of teachers and students.

The number of positive tests is expected to rise again after they return to class on May 10, primarily among high school Gymnasium students.