Coronavirus: Pandemic takes heavy toll on UK Cypriot community

The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to take a heavy toll on the Cypriot community in the UK, with Parikiaki newspaper estimating that a total of 480 UK Cypriots have died from Covid-19 since the start of the outbreak.

The news outlet said that in London, 70 community members succumbed to the coronavirus in the last week — 30 Greek Cypriots and 40 Turkish Cypriots. Outside London there were five deaths, all Greek Cypriots, one each from Leeds, Cheltenham, Coventry, Leicester and Mansfield.

“To date, we estimate 480 UK Cypriots (Greek, Turkish and Maronite) in total have died from Coronavirus. The figure includes 437 in London and 43 outside London. Parikiaki’s figures are arrived after contacting local hospitals, Churches and Turkish Cypriot media and community, funeral directors and death announcements that have come to our newspaper,” it said.

The total fatalities now include 253 UK Greek Cypriots, 183 UK Turkish Cypriots and one UK Maronite Cypriot, all from London. Included are six cases of married couples, two cases of two brothers and two cases of fathers and sons.

Outside London, there were eleven UK Greek Cypriots and one UK Turkish Cypriot from Birmingham, three UK Greek Cypriots from Weston-super-Mare, who were all from the same family, one from Derby, one from Lowestoft, one from Cambridge, two from Cheltenham, four UK Greek Cypriots and one UK Maronite from Liverpool , one UK Greek Cypriot from Luton, one from Southend, one from Glasgow, one from Newport, two from Leeds, one from Hemel Hempstead, one from Manchester one from Middlesborough, one from Margate and one from Wakefield one from Leicester, one from Mansfield and one from Coventry.

Four UK Turkish Cypriots, one each from Colchester, Maidstone, two Northampton and Suffolk, passed away, bringing the total number of UK Cypriot deaths outside London to 43.