Coronavirus: Five deaths, 288 new cases (Updated)

Five deaths from coronavirus and 288 new cases of the virus were announced on Monday.

The health ministry said the five deaths were four men aged 70, 77 and two aged 89, along with one woman aged 82. They all had underlying health conditions.

Hospitals are treating 205 coronavirus patients of whom 58 are in a serious condition. Of the 58, there are 29 patients who are intubated with a further six in the ICU but not on ventilators and 23 in the high dependency unit.

Total deaths as of Monday evening stood at 153, with a further breakdown of 103 men (67 per cent) and 50 women, while the average age remains at 80.

The 288 positive results were identified via a total of 12,842 tests, of which 3,892 were PCR tests and the remaining 8,950 were rapid tests.

The positivity rate from the 12,842 tests was recorded at 2.24 per cent.

Rapid tests yielded 170 positive results, while contact tracing identified another 52 positives (out of 266 tests) and 20 travellers tested positive (out of 1,713 tests).

Other notable testing categories include the 27 positives identified via 1,177 positives from private tests and just one positive from the 236 tests taken from referrals by doctors.

Nicosia recorded the lowest positivity rate at 1.58 per cent and Famagusta the highest – at 3.49 per cent – followed by Larnaca at 3.35 per cent and Limassol at 3.30 per cent.