COVID19: Turkish Cypriots report record cases

Turkish Cypriot health authorities continue to struggle to stem a surge of COVID-19 infections, reporting a daily record of 181 cases.

The bad news comes just days after the authorities in the Turkish occupied north said that July ended with a record 3,108 infections smashing the previous monthly high of 1,879 in April.

Less than two weeks into August, Turkish Cypriot health authorities have reported 1,423 cases, putting them on track for a new record.

Wednesday’s record cases take the total of COVID-19 infections reported in the Turkish occupied north of the island to 12,985 and 42 deaths.

Turkish Cypriot authorities are struggling with a resurgence of the virus, powered by the more aggressive Delta variant.

In June, authorities had kept daily cases below 50 throughout the month, reaching just 776 infections.

Among the cases announced on Wednesday were two Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s public affairs office officials.

His wife, Sibel Tatar, was classified a close contact of one of the employees and instructed to self-isolate.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Cyprus delivered another 40,000 AstraZeneca shots to Turkish Cypriots on Wednesday.

The shots were delivered at Nicosia’s Ayios Dhometios checkpoint and received by the Turkish Cypriot head of the Bicommunal Technical Committee on Health Cenk Soydan.

A total of 158,850 COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered from the EU to the Turkish Cypriot community through the Republic.

Of these, the majority were AstraZeneca’s shot Vaxzevria, with 108,700 doses were delivered.

Another 29,000 Johnson&Johnson vaccines and 21,050 Pfizer vaccines were also delivered.

Despite daily cases in the Republic dropping from four digits last month, they are still relatively high, with 484 cases and five deaths reported on Wednesday.

The total in the Republic since March 2020 is 107,485 and 452 deaths.

Divided Cyprus has confirmed a combined 120,470 cases and 494 deaths.