COVID19: Seven out of ten adults vaccinated

Seven out of ten Cypriots have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while over 60% are fully vaccinated, but health authorities urge more people to get jabbed.

According to the Health Ministry, 70.4% of the adult population aged 18 and above has received at least one vaccine shot, while 61.6% have completed their vaccination.

Vaccination coverage is still higher in groups of older people, with those over 80 leading the board with a coverage of 94.1%

By age group, 36.2% of people aged 18 to 19, and 45.9% of the 20 to 29 group has received at least one shot.

Some 60.8% aged between 30 and 39, 79.8% of people in the 40 to 49 group and, 77.1% of the 50 to 59 group have received at least one jab.

The coverage for the age group 60 to 69 stands at 85.1% and for the 70-19 at 93.5%.

On a district level, Paphos continues to rank first, with 78.8% of its population getting jabbed, followed by Famagusta (76.2%), Nicosia (71.2%), Limassol (68.5%) and Larnaca (64.5%).

The ministry’s decision to operate ‘walk-in’ vaccination stations for the first shot is paying off as they received 1,031 people on Wednesday alone.

Cyprus has a separate rollout scheme for vaccinating underaged teenagers (16 and 17); they are not part of the adult figures.

So far, 22.1% of those aged 16-17 have received a COVID-19 jab.

Health experts continue to invite the public to get vaccinated, with the health system pushed to its limits as the number of COVID-19 patients needing hospitalisation rises rapidly.

On Wednesday, there were 243 patients infected with the coronavirus admitted to hospitals, 63 of whom were in an ICU or a high dependency unit.

The Health Ministry said that 92.2% of COVID-19 patients in hospital on Wednesday night were unvaccinated.

Some 1,014 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths were reported on Wednesday, taking the 16-month total to 94,261 infections and 394 deaths.