Coronavirus: No deaths, 113 new cases from record number of tests (updated)

Health authorities announced 113 new coronavirus cases from 22,674 tests on Saturday, the largest number carried out since the start of the pandemic in March.

The positivity rate was 0.5 per cent.

The ministry said no deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, as 140 patients were being treated in hospital, 50 in serious or critical condition.

The number of infections since March has reached 30,770 while 197 people died from the virus, 132 being men. The average age of the deceased is 80.

Of the 50 patients in serious or critical condition, 28 were intubated, seven were admitted in ICUs without intubation, and 15 were in high dependency units.

The health ministry said 32 cases were contacts of previously confirmed infections, detected among 240 samples.

Sixty cases were found among 20,433 samples tested with antigen tests, and 14 in 1,112 samples tested at private laboratories.

One case was among 69 samples collected from people seven days after their arrival from the UK. Six other cases were detected among 228 samples tested by state hospital labs.