COVID19: Two deaths as cases, hospitalisations retreat

Cyprus reported two deaths and a drop in new coronavirus cases to 5,089 on Tuesday, down from Monday’s record 6,494, with hospitalisations also retreating somewhat to 182, as the national infection rate remaining above the 5% marker.

The health ministry said in its Covid bulletin that the latest victims of the pandemic were a 76 year old man and an 88 year old woman, raising the March death toll to 62, and the total number of Covid-19 victims to 932.

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 dropped by eight to 182 after ten consecutive days of increases, with critical cases unchanged at 21.

Intubated patients remained at four, while 55% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated.

A further 21 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 421,603.

A total of 95,315 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, about 20,000 less than the day before, with 34,200 tests in schools.

Of the 9,846 tests in high schools, 91 were positive, with 148 new cases from 18,505 tests in primary schools. A further 98 new infections were identified from the “test to stay” programme for students and teachers, which also includes kindergartens.

With a drop in the number of tests, as well as new cases from 6,494 to 5,089, the benchmark ‘positivity rate’ also dropped from 5.6% to 5.34%, down from Saturday’s 6.27% and Friday’s record 7.27%, and five times above the safe marker of 1%.

Of the new infections, 207 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.

There were 26 new infections in care homes from 1,117 tests, and six positive cases among 369 tests in restricted institutions.