COVID19: No deaths, hospitalisations rise

Cyprus reported no coronavirus deaths on Sunday, the fifth time this month, as new cases remained above the 4,000 marker, keeping the infection rate at a high 5.22%, while hospitalisations increased for the ninth day in a row to 173.

The health ministry said in its Covid bulletin that March death toll remained unchanged at 57, with the total number of Covid-19 victims at 927.

January was the deadliest month on record with 101, followed by 91 in February, overtaking the previous record of 81 last August.

The number of patients being treated in state hospitals rose to 173, having spiked the previous day from 151 to 169, with critical cases dropping by three to 18.

Intubated patients dropped to two, while 55% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated.

Some 23 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 410,020.

A total of 82,650 PCR and antigen rapid tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, almost the same as on Saturday.

With a steady number of tests, as well as a decrease in cases from 5,172 to 4,314, the benchmark ‘positivity rate’ improved slightly to 5.22%, down from Saturday’s 6.27% and Friday’s record 7.27%, more than five times above the safe marker of 1%.

Of the new infections, 119 were identified through contact tracing linked to earlier infections.

There were four new infections in care homes from 65 tests, and 15 positive cases among 1,878 tests in restricted institutions.