COVID19: Two deaths as infection rate still high at 6%

Cyprus reported two coronavirus deaths on Saturday, an increase in daily cases to 5,172, a spike in the number of hospitalisations and a mild drop in the already-high infection rate to 6.27%.

The health ministry said in its Covid bulletin that the latest victims were two women, 85 and 96, raising the March death toll to 57, with the total number of Covid-19 victims at 927.

January was the deadliest month on record with 101, followed by 91 in February, overtaking the previous record of 81 last August.

The number of patients being treated in state hospitals spiked from 151 to 169, with one more critical case from the day before, at 21.

Intubated patients dropped to six, while 52% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated.

Some 22 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 405.706.

A total of 82,488 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, 38,000 more than the previous day.

With a recovery in the number of tests to previous levels, as well as an increase in cases from 3,329 to 5,172, the benchmark ‘positivity rate’ dropped to 6.27% from Saturday’s record 7.27% and last Wednesday’s 5.64%, more than six times above the safe marker of 1%.

Of the new infections, 152 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.

There were 52 new infections in care homes from 796 tests, while all of 475 tests in restricted institutions were negative for the second day in a row.