COVID19: No deaths as patients on the rise

Cyprus reported no coronavirus-related deaths for the third day in a row on Tuesday, the seventh day this month with no Covid deaths, while the number of new daily cases dropped slightly to 266 and hospitalisations increased to 71.

The health ministry said in its Covid bulletin that the death toll since the pandemic started remained unchanged at 576.

New daily infections receded to 266 having more than doubled to 284 the day before and above the high of 280 a week ago.

Hospitalisations increased again to 71 from 67, while 22 remain serious, the same as the previous day.

Meanwhile, intubated patients dropped to six, and 64% of hospital patients were reported as unvaccinated.

Only one patient is still considered post-Covid, having recovered from the virus, but remains intubated and in a serious state.

The total number of all SARS-CoV-2 infections since March 2020 rose to 126,497.

The number of PCR and antigen rapid tests conducted during the past 24 hours dropped to 57,173, about 10,000 less than the previous day.

This included 12,563 tests in high schools, of whom 12 were positive for coronavirus, and 3,663 tests in primary schools of whom four were diagnosed with the virus.

With a decrease in tests and 266 new infections, 18 fewer than the previous day, the benchmark ‘test positivity’ rate rose to 0.47% from 0.42%, within the high-risk threshold of 1%.

Of the new cases, 71 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, three were passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 53 were diagnosed from private initiative and hospital tests.

A further 93 cases were identified from private rapid tests at labs and pharmacies, and 46 were positive from the free national testing programme, available only to those vaccinated or recovered from earlier infections.

All 994 samples from retirement homes were negative for coronavirus, as well as 119 random rapid tests at both airports.

Two tested positive from 156 tests at restricted institutions.