Cyprus reported four coronavirus deaths on Monday, with new daily cases rising to 4,210, while hospitalisations dipped below the 200-level to 199, with the government unsure if it is to remove more restrictions.
The health ministry said in its Covid bulletin that the latest victims included three men aged 68 to 89, as well as an 88 year old woman, raising the April death toll to 11.
To date, 946 people have died of Covid-19, more than a quarter of whom 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 dropped by four to 199, having breached the 200-safety barrier the past few days based on the number of available hospital beds, while critical cases were up one at 28.
Intubated patients decreased to seven, while 53% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients were reported as 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 444,012.
105,000 tests
A total 105,150 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, about 27,000 more than the day before as testing resumed in schools following the April 1 national holiday and long weekend.
Of the 9,675 tests in high schools, 68 were positive, and 114 from 17,226 tests in primary schools, while 60 new infections identified from the “test to stay” programme for students and teachers, which also includes kindergartens.
With a significant increase in the number of tests, and a proportional increase in new cases from 2,853 to 4,210, the benchmark ‘positivity rate’ rose from 3.62% to 4.0%, down from the record 7.27% nearly two weeks ago, and four times above the safe marker of 1%.
Of the new infections, 114 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.
There were 17 new infections in care homes and nine in restricted institutions.
