COVID19: No deaths 3rd day in a row, cases down

Cyprus reported no deaths attributed to the coronavirus for the third day in a row on Thursday, as hospitalisations increased to 41 and new daily infections dropped to 65.

The health ministry said in its daily Covid bulletin that the death toll since the pandemic started remained unchanged at 374, of which 14 were recorded in June, according to Financial Mirror data.

It said that 41 patients are currently admitted in state hospitals for treatment, three more than Wednesday, of whom 15 are critical, up by three from the day before.

Some 34,157 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted on the day which, based on the 65 new daily infections generated a test positivity rate of 0.19%, down from 0.22% a day earlier, but far below the high-risk threshold of 1.00%.

The new cases of SARS-CoV-2 were down by three from 68 on Wednesday. The total number of infections during the past 15 months is now 73,444.

Of the new cases, 8 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, 14 passengers tested positive among 3,552 samples from arrivals at Larnaca and Paphos airports and 13 were diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests.

A further 30 new cases were identified through the national rapid testing programme.

Limassol once again accounted for most of the new infections, with 13 cases and a test positivity rate pf 0.20%, followed by 6 in Nicosia (0.06%), 4 in Paphos (0.13%), and 2 each in Larnaca (0.07%) and Famagusta district (0.09%).

All tests on 447 staff and residents at retirement homes, 722 samples from industrial zones and 1,304 teachers and students at high schools were negative.