COVID19: One death, more patients, cases below 600

Cyprus reported its first coronavirus death after a 19-day streak, as hospitalisations spiked at 71 and new daily cases remained just below 600, dropping slightly to 577.

The health ministry said in its daily Covid report that a 93 year old woman died, the first in July, with the death toll since the pandemic started at 379.

The report said that 71 patients are currently admitted in four state hospitals, up from 63 on Saturday, receiving treatment for Covid-19, of whom 19 are in a critical state, two less than the day before.

A total of 45,848 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted which, based on the 577 new cases of SARS-CoV-2, six less than the previous day, generated a benchmark ‘test positivity’ rate of 1.26%, up from 1.21% on Saturday and 1.17% on Friday.

The total number of infections during the past 16 months is now at 78,022.

Of the new cases, four were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, nine patients arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports tested positive, while 62 were diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests.

A further 502 cases were diagnosed through the national rapid test programme, which is expected to be terminated in August.

The health ministry said that 183 of the positive cases were in Nicosia with a test positivity rate of 1.17%, followed by 131 in Limassol (1.44%). However, Famagusta district had 78 cases but the highest rate 2.34%, followed by 71 in Larnaca (1.32%) and 27 in Paphos (0.64%).