COVID19: No deaths for 2nd day, fewer cases

Cyprus reported no coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row on Sunday, making it the fourth day out of five, as the May toll stands at 48 and 360 since the pandemic started.

The improving epidemiological situation, boosted by ongoing vaccinations, also resulted in fewer daily infections, with 44 new cases of COVID-19, down from 56 the day before.

Hospitalisations were also reduced by one, with 73 patients being treated for SARS-CoV-2, as the number of critical cases increased by two to 32.

However, with this number far from the islandwide bed capacity of 200 patients in six state hospitals, dedicated Covid-wards have been closing one at a time, starting with Paphos General hospital last Monday and ending the week with the infirmary at Polis.

Despite the national parliamantary elections, with the public busy reaching voting booths or enjoying a warm day by the beach, some 47,156 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted.

Based on the 44 new cases diagnosed through testing, the ‘test positivity’ rate dropped further to 0.09% from the safe benchmark of 1.00%, with the number of COVID-19 infections since March 2020 reaching 72,407, almost 10% of the entire adult population.

Of the new cases, 7 were diagnosed from contact tracing linked to earlier infections, 7 tested positive from among 4,059 passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and six were discovered from private lab and hospital testing.

A further 24 new cases were diagnosed through the national rapid testing programme, of which 10 were in Limassol (test positivity rate of 0.09%), 6 in Nicosia (0.04%), 5 in Larnaca (0.09%), and one in Famagusta district (0.03%).

No new infections were recorded in Paphos.