Coronavirus: one death and 122 new cases announced on Friday (updated)

One person has died from Covid-19, the health ministry said on Friday, while 122 new cases were detected after 9,635 tests, a positivity rate of 1.27 per cent.

The ministry said 179 people were being treated in hospital, 58 in serious or critical condition.

The number of deaths since the pandemic started in March has reached 179, while infections stood at 29,758.

The ministry said an 82-year-old man with underlying health issues was the latest fatality, bringing the number of dead males to 120.

The average age of the people who died is 80.

Health authorities said 179 people were being treated for Covid in state hospitals, 32 were intubated, three were in an ICU but not intubated, and 23 in high dependency units.

Of the 122 new infections, 37 concerned contacts of previously confirmed cases detected in 307 samples.

Thirty-one others were found among 884 samples taken by private laboratories and 10 in 320 tests conducted by state hospital labs.

Forty-four cases were detected in 7,917 antigen rapid tests.