Cyprus reported two coronavirus deaths on Monday, 100 new daily infections and the number of hospitalisations dropping to 106, as the Covid ward at Paphos General hospital released its last patient.
The two deaths, both males aged 60 and 82, raising the death toll for May to 44 and to 356 since the pandemic started.
May was the third-worst month during the past 14 months, after March had 25 deaths and 30 in February. December and January were the worst months on record, with 76 deaths each.
On the other hand, the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 continued to decelerate, dropping to 106 from 115 on Sunday, of whom 43 are critical, one more than the day before.
The health ministry said in its daily Covid report that 52,815 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted on the day which, when factoring in the 100 new cases of SARS-CoV-2, up from 75 the previous day, generated a ‘test positivity’ rate of 0.19%, the lowest throughout the past week.
In all, Cyprus has had 72,011 coronavirus infections during the past 14 months.
Of the new cases, ten were discovered through contact tracing linked to earlier infections, three tested positive among 3,827 passengers arriving at Larnaca and Paphos airports, 28 were diagnosed from private lab and hospital tests, while 59 were identified from the national rapid testing programme.
Limassol accounted for most of the new infections, with 22 (test positivity rate of 0.21%), followed by 13 in Nicosia (0.08%), 10 in Larnaca (0.17%), four in Paphos (0.09%) and two in Famagusta district (0.08%).
All of the 865 samples from staff and residents at retirement homes tested negative, as did 827 samples collected from two industrial zones. Four of the 4,637 samples from high schools tested positive.
End of Paphos Covid ward
Meanwhile, the last coronavirus patient who recovered at Paphos General hospital has been released and the Covid ward is now being prepared to accommodate other patients.
The health ministry said that “gradually, other wards being used for Covid-19 treatment will return to their normal operations, if the current epidemiological situation continues to improve.”
It said that of the 106 patients, 26 are intubated, six are in intensive care units without ventilators and 11 are in increased care units.
