COVID19: Woman dies as Cyprus second wave swells

Cyprus is starting to feel the negative effects of a spike in COVID-19 cases reporting another Coronavirus death on Saturday while infections continue to rack up three-digits.

The Health Ministry announced the death of a 91-year-old female patient treated at COVID referral hospital Famagusta General.

Although the number of people dying after being infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus is 33, those who died as a direct cause of COVID-19 has risen to 26 since the outbreak in March.

The average age of those who have died from COVID is 73 – the majority were men (17) and 9 were women.

Saturday’s confirmed 149 cases were detected from 4,783 tests bringing total infections in Cyprus to 4,366 – over 59% of them have occurred in October.

Before the second wave hit Cyprus, the number of cases recorded at the end of September was 1,755, they have more doubled in a matter of weeks.

This is putting more pressure on the health service which is trying to increase capacity as more seriously ill covid patients are being admitted to hospital.

There are 24 SARS-CoV-2 patients being treated at  Famagusta General Hospital, three are in the Intensive Care Unit.

Nicosia General Hospital has five patients in its Intensive Care Unit while another eight people are being treated in a COVID-19 ward.

A majority of Saturday’s cases, 84, were detected via private tests while only nine were found through contact tracing close contacts of confirmed cases.

This suggests the track and trace procedure is under severe strain as the cases mount up.

Government random testing schemes in the hotspots of Kyperounta village in the Troodos mountain and Polis Chrysochous, Paphos found 19 and 13 positive cases respectively.

Another 10 cases were identified from tests on airport passenger arrivals.

Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou is scheduled to meet his COVID scientific team on Monday where imposing stricter measures will be discussed to stem the high tide of cases.

The minister will later brief the cabinet on what the new data is indicating.