COVID19: April starts with two deaths, drop in cases

Cyprus reported two coronavirus deaths on the first day of April, with new daily cases dropping further to 2,491, down from Monday’s record 6,494, while hospitalisations were marginally down at 191.

The health ministry said in its Covid bulletin on Friday that two women died during the past 24 hours, aged 84 and 96, raising the total number of Covid-19 victims to 937, more than a quarter of whom died in the first three months of this year.

March ended with 65 coronavirus deaths, while January was the deadliest month on record with 101, followed by 91 in February, overtaking the previous record of 81 last August.

The total number of patients admitted in Covid wards in state hospitals decreased by four to 191, while critical cases were also reduced, down two at 23.

Intubated patients were unchanged at seven, while 52% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated.

A further 13 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 433,055.

A total 41,302 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, less than half from the day before, due to the April 1 national holiday, with no testing schools.

With a significant decrease in the number of tests, and an equal drop in new cases from 4,349 to 2,491, Friday’s benchmark ‘positivity rate’ rose from 4.52% to 6.03%, down from last Friday’s record 7.27%, and six times above the safe marker of 1%.

Of the new infections, 94 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.

There were 22 new infections in care homes and four positive cases in restricted institutions.