Coronavirus: Limassol slowing down lockdown exit

Limassol remains the standout district of concern for the health ministry as it recorded 390.7 positives per 100,000 – in stark contrast to Famagusta’s 45 per 100,000.

“According to the above, the issue remains in Limassol which therefore keeps the cumulative impact for the whole country at unsafe levels,” the health ministry said in its weekly national report.

Cyprus’ 164.3 per 100,000 is just over the ECDC’s criteria of 150 per 100,000.

Friday’s report went on to say that were it not for Limassol, the epidemiological picture for the rest of Cyprus would be much better and the island could be deemed “green” – according to the criteria of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

This would contribute decisively to the quicker lifting of more restrictive measures, the health ministry said, adding that in order to increase detection more rapid test locations were operating in Limassol district and tracing has been extended to secondary contacts (the contacts of contacts).

Limassol has consistently been ahead of the curve in terms of infections but also restrictions. Curfews and other measures were often brought in weeks in advance in Limassol and Paphos compared to the rest of the island.

For example: an 11pm curfew was enforced in those two districts on October 22 – while it became islandwide on November 5. This was later tightened to an 8pm curfew on November 11 for Limassol and Paphos.

The health ministry’s report states that all districts, apart from Limassol, have recorded a drop in cumulative cases over the past two weeks.

Famagusta’s is 45/100,000 (was 104.3), Larnaca’s is 75.2/100,000 (was 121.5), Limassol’s is 390.7/100,000 (was 336.3), Nicosia’s is 83.4/100,000 (was 106.8) and finally, Paphos’ 46.1/100,000 (was 63.9).

Friday’s report packs in the data from the past 14 days, February 3-16, and recorded 1,459 positives and the median age of those testing positive is 38.

Of the 1,459 positives, 34.1 per cent reported no symptoms while 65.9 per cent reported at least one.

During that time, a whopping 430,246 tests have been carried out – of which 402,572 were rapid tests.

In total, since the beginning of the outbreak in March until February 16, 32,421 positives have been recorded along with 227 deaths attributed to Covid-19 – resulting in a case fatality risk of 0.7 per cent.