Cyprus reported no coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row on Wednesday, with new infection cases dropping to 142 and hospitalisation rates rising to 63.
The health ministry said the death toll since the pandemic started remained unchanged at 559, of whom seven died in October.
After a record 40 deaths in August, the number dropped to 40 in September, with ten days of no Covid-related deaths.
So far, October has seen six days of no Covid-related deaths in Cyprus.
New daily cases dropped to 142 from 166, while the number of patients currently admitted at state hospitals for treatment rising to 63, up from Tuesday’s 60. Of these, 25 remain in serious condition, two more from the previous day.
Meanwhile, nine patients remain intubated, and 63% of hospital patients are unvaccinated.
Another 10 patients are still 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 March 2020 rose to 121,842.
The number of PCR and antigen rapid tests conducted during the past 24 hours dropped to 46,145, about 7,000 less than Tuesday.
14,600 tests in schools
This included 12,823 tests in high schools, of whom six tested positive, as well as 1,808 tests in primary schools, all of whom tested negative.
With a lower number of tests and a drop in new infections to 142, 24 less than the day before, the benchmark ‘test positivity’ rate remained unchanged at 0.31%, well below the high-risk threshold of 1%.
Of the new cases, 35 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, two were passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 34 were diagnosed from private initiative and hospital tests.
A further 52 cases were identified from private rapid tests at labs and pharmacies, and 19 were positive from the free national testing programme, available only to those vaccinated or recovered from earlier infections.
All of the 670 samples taken at retirement homes were negative for Covid-19, as well as 32 tests of visitors at hotels, 44 tests at special schools and 1,152 tests at restricted institutions.
Of the 191 random rapid tests among arrivals at airports, only one was positive for coronavirus.
