COVID19: Two deaths, tally reaches 601

Cyprus reported two coronavirus deaths on Saturday, the fourth this month, taking the pandemic total beyond 600, with hospitalisations also rising to 115.

Daily infections were down to 428 from 594 on Friday, with fewer tests conducted.

The Health Ministry said in its daily Covid bulletin that a 34-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman were the latest victims of the pandemic, with the death toll since March 2020 rising to 601.

The average age of all deaths is 75.7, with the majority men (64.2%).

Hospitalisations increased by four to 115, as serious cases dropped by six to 43.

Intubated patients decreased by two at 17, while 69.57% of hospital patients were reported as unvaccinated.

Three patients are still considered post-Covid, having recovered from the virus, but remain intubated and in a serious state.

The total number of SARS-CoV-2 infections since March 2020 rose to 136,525.

Testing at the weekend was lower as usual at 78,007 PCR and antigen rapid tests, about 10,000 fewer than the day before.

With fewer tests and daily infections, the benchmark ‘test positivity’ rate decreased to 0.58% from 0.67%, below the high-risk threshold of 1%.

Of the new infections, 18 were passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports, and 106 were diagnosed from private initiative, hospital, and GP tests.

A further 204 cases were identified from private rapid tests at labs and pharmacies, and 100 were positive from the free national testing programme, available only to those vaccinated or recovered from earlier infections.