Coronavirus: four deaths and 259 new cases announced on Tuesday (Updated)

The health ministry announced four deaths and 259 new cases of people testing positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday from both PCR and rapid testing.

The deaths concerned three men 60, 78 and 91 and one woman aged 84. The cause of death for all four of them was Covid-19. Apart from the 78-year-old man, the other three had underlying conditions.

This brings the total deaths due to coronavirus to 157 of which 106 were men and 51 women. The average age remains at 80 years.

There are 197 people in hospitals of whom 58 are in serious condition and 30 of whom are intubated.

The 259 cases were detected among 13,231 tests, of which 2,790 concerned the molecular method (PCR) and the rest were rapid tests.

As regards the PCR tests, 72 cases were detected through contact tracing, 31 were people who got tested privately and three are passengers at the Larnaca and Paphos airports.

Another 18 cases were among samples processed at the labs of state hospitals and one case was among people referred for testing by their family physicians.

One case was among 10 samples taken during checks by the basketball and handball federations.

In total 133 people were found positive after getting tested with rapid tests.

Twelve people who were found positive for the virus through rapid testing were among samples collected from mobile units at the industrial areas and checks in businesses. Another three were people working in the civil service and wider public sector and one person detected during tests in the National Guard.

Another 40 people were detected during testing in the Limassol district, 31 in the Nicosia district, 29 in Larnaca, 15 in Paphos and two in the Famagusta district.