Cyprus reported 12 deaths in the weekly Covid bulletin on Friday, raising the death toll since the pandemic started to 1,027, five of which were in the final days of April.
Hospitalisations continued to drop within a week from 89 to 60, critical cases decreased from 20 to 16, while intubated patients were down four to six.
The Health Ministry said an 89-year-old man died on April 29, and two men, 84 and 89, and two women, 82 and 91, on April 30.
An 80-year-old man’s death on March 28 was attributed to Covid-19, as were three earlier fatalities – a man aged 63 in September 2021, an 85-year-old woman in April last year and a 95-year-old woman in December 2020.
April’s death toll rose to 69, just ahead of the 66 reported in March, also adjusted up by one.
So far, no deaths were recorded in the first five days of May.
A third of all deaths in Jan-Apr
Some 328, or just under a third of all deaths occurred in the first four months of this year.
January was the deadliest month on record with 101 deaths, followed by 92 in February, overtaking the previous record of 83 last August.
The rate of unvaccinated patients treated in state hospitals for Covid-19 remained unchanged at 43%.
Over seven days, 3,444 new infections were reported on average 492 daily, down from 3,786 cases last week, with a daily average of 541.
A further 12 patients are still considered post-Covid, one more than the week before, having recovered from the virus but remaining intubated and in a serious state.
Total SARS-CoV-2 infections since March 2020 rose to 483,664.
A total of 354,720 PCR and rapid antigen tests were conducted during the past week, more than double the 143,329 tested a week earlier, as testing resumed in schools after the Greek Orthodox Easter break.
Of the 18,249 tests in secondary schools, 20 were positive, with 24 new cases from 24,902 tests in primary schools.
Two new infections were identified from the “test to stay” programme for students and teachers, including kindergartens.
There were no new cases in special schools.
With a significant increase in tests and a continued drop in new cases, the benchmark ‘positivity rate’ improved to 0.97%, dropping from 2.64% last week to below the safe limit of 1% for the first time in months.
Of the new Covid cases, 10 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.
A further 35 tested positive in care homes, with three positive cases in restricted institutions.
