Cyprus reported one coronavirus death on Monday, a small drop in hospitalisations to 139 and an increase in new cases to 223, which, combined with more than 74,000 tests pushed the infection rate further down to a manageable 0.30%.
The health ministry said in its daily Covid bulletin that a 55 year old man died due to Covid-19, raising the death toll in September to 13 and the to date figure to 516.
So far, 334 victims of the pandemic have been men (65%) and 182 women, with an average age of 76.4 years.
The number of patients currently admitted to state hospitals for treatment dropped by four from Sunday to 139, of whom 41 are in serious condition, five less than the previous day.
Meanwhile, 17 patients remain intubated, up by two, while 83% of hospital patients are unvaccinated.
A further 17 patients are considered post-Covid, having recovered from the virus, but remain intubated and in a serious state.
The total number of all SARS-CoV-2 infections since the pandemic started in March 2020 rose to 116,991.
Some 74,092 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, 44,000 more than the day before.
High school students return
Over 40,000 secondary education students return to school on Tuesday under strict COVID-19 protocols, with the need for a Safe Pass to attend for teachers as well.
A Safe Pass is acquired through vaccination, illness or a negative coronavirus test no older than 72 hours.
With significantly more tests and a higher number of 223 new infections, 76 more than the day before, the benchmark ‘test positivity’ improved further and dropped to 0.30% from the previous day’s 0.49% and below the high-risk threshold of 1%.
Of the new cases, 13 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, six passengers tested positive in PCR tests at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 42 were diagnosed from private initiative and hospital tests.
A further 119 cases were identified from private rapid tests at labs and pharmacies, and 43 were positive from the free national testing programme, available only to those vaccinated or recovered from earlier infections.
11 tests of 1,171 staff and residents in retirement homes tested positive for Covid-19, as well as one passenger from 290 random rapid tests at the airports.
All of the guests tested by the programme initiated by the Hoteliers’ Association were negative.
