COVID19: Two deaths, more patients, fewer cases

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Cyprus reported two coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, a small increase in hospitalisations to 141 and a drop in new cases to 206, which, kept the infection rate at a low level of 0.45%.

The health ministry said in its daily Covid bulletin that two men, aged 67 and 70, were the latest victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, raising the death toll in September to 15 and the to date figure to 518.

The number of patients currently admitted at state hospitals for treatment increased by two from Monday to 141, of whom 39 are in serious condition, two less than the previous day.

Meanwhile, 18 patients remain intubated, up by one, while 80% of hospital patients are unvaccinated.

A further 9 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 117,197.

Some 45,712 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, 29,000 less than the day before.

With a lower number of tests and 206 new infections, 17 less than the day before, the benchmark ‘test positivity’ rate rose to 0.45 from Monday’s 0.30% and below the high-risk threshold of 1%.

Of the new cases, 32 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, six passengers tested positive in PCR tests at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 52 were diagnosed from private initiative and hospital tests.

A further 92 cases were identified from private rapid tests at labs and pharmacies, and 24 were positive from the free national testing programme, available only to those vaccinated or recovered from earlier infections.

All of the 967 staff and residents in retirement homes tested negative for Covid-19, as well as 164 random rapid tests at the airports and 50 tests of guests hosted by the Hotels Association.