COVID19: 2 deaths, patients and cases drop

Cyprus reported two coronavirus cases on Wednesday, as well as a drop in hospitalisations to 173 as well as a reduced 260 new infections, as the country copes with its exit from Lockdown III and new regulations for pubs, cafés and restaurants that reopened on Monday.

The health ministry said that a 47 year old man and an 82 year old woman died of SARS-CoV-2 complications, raising the death toll for May to 29 and 341 since the pandemic started.

At the same time, the number of patients admitted in state hospitals for COVID-19 treatment dropped to 173 from 189 the day before, with the critical cases one less at 56.

Some 54,816 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted on Wednesday, which based on the 260 new cases, generated a test positivity rate of 0.47%, marginally below Tuesday’s 0.59%, and well below the risk level of 1.00%.

 

Total infections rise to 70,358

The total number of coronavirus infections during the past 14 months has increased to 70,358.

Of the new cases, 94 were identified through contact tracing, two passengers from 1,778 arrivals at Larnaca and Paphos airports tested positive, and 56 were diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests.

A further 108 new infections were discovered from the national rapid testing programme, of which 38 were in Nicosia, with a test positivity rate of 0.20%.

Limassol had 26 new cases (0.22%), followed by 17 in Larnaca (0.22%), 15 in Famagusta district (0.36%) and one in Paphos (0.02%).

All 602 samples taken from residents and staff at retirement homes tested negative, as did 153 soldiers serving in the National Guard.

Just two workers in the industrial zones of Ypsonas in Limassol and Dhali near Nicosia tested positive from among 1,310 test samples.