COVID19: June starts with 0 deaths, 4th day in a row

The state of health in Cyprus got off on a right footing in June with no deaths, a steady number of daily coronavirus infections and a continued drop in hospitalisations.

No new Covid-related deaths were reported on Tuesday for the fourth day in a row, with the toll since the pandemic started remaining at 360.

Some 66 patients continue to be treated for SARS-CoV-2, four less than Monday, with the number of critical cases also reduced, down from 31 to 27.

In all, 43,028 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted, diagnosing 58 new cases, that corresponds to a test positivity rate of 0.13%, slightly above 0.11% the day before, and continuing below the benchmark risk level of 1.00% throughout the previous week.

During the past 15 months, Cyprus recorded 72,515 cases of COVID-19.

The 58 new cases were up from Monday’s 50, and Sunday’s 44, yet close to the 56 on Saturday.

Of the new cases, five were identified through contact tracing, linked to earlier infections, four passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports tested positive among 2,324 samples, and 19 were diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests.

A further 30 cases were diagnosed from the national rapid testing programme.

Of these, ten were in Limassol with a test positivity rate of 0.13%, seven were in Nicosia (0.06%), three in Larnaca (0.10%), one in Paphos (0.03%) and one in Famagusta district (0.05%).

All of the 376 samples of staff and residents at retirement homes tested negative for Covid-19, as were 616 samples from industrial zones.

Only one tested positive among 6,490 samples of staff and students at high schools, as the graduate classes embarked on their university entrance examinations.