COVID19: Two deaths as cases drop further below 2,000

Cyprus reported two coronavirus deaths on Sunday, as daily cases remained under the 2,000 marker for the second day, dropping to 1,730, with hospitalisations inching up to 129, of whom 30 are critical.

The Health Ministry said in its Covid bulletin that the latest victims were two elderly men, aged 81 ad 94, raising the March death toll to 13 and the national figure to 877, two years into the pandemic.

January was the deadliest month on record with 100, followed by 91 in February, overtaking the previous record of 80 last August.

Intubated patients increased to 14, while 55% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated.

The number of patients admitted in the Covid wards climbed up one to 129, having dropped by ten the previous day.

Some 18 patients are still considered post-Covid, having recovered from the virus, but remain intubated and in a serious state.

333,000 cases to date

The total number of SARS-CoV-2 infections since March 2020 has risen to 333,238.

A total of 77,336 PCR and rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, 14,000 fewer from the previous day.

A decrease in the number of tests, as well as new cases from 1,834 to 1,730 took the benchmark ‘positivity rate’ from 2.01% to 2.24%, double the safe marker of 1%.

Having peaked at 5,457 on January 4, driven by a spike in the Omicron variant, new cases remained below 2,500 in recent weeks.

Of the new infections, 77 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.

All 79 tests in care homes were negative for the Covid virus, one only one person tested positive from 1,859 tests in restricted institutions.