Coronavirus: report shows Covid deaths falling in Cyprus

Cyprus has seen a significant drop in Covid-19 deaths despite an increased positivity rate, the health ministry announced on Friday.

Between February 19 and February 26, the number of Covid-related deaths on the island fell by 78 per cent, as only two deaths were reported, compared with the previous week which saw nine deaths, the epidemiological team of the health ministry said in a written report.

One more death was recorded since February 26 to date, it added.

According to EuroMOMO, European mortality monitoring in which 26 member states take part, Cyprus has a low mortality rate to date.

“For Cyprus there has been no excess mortality during the pandemic,” the report said citing a EuroMOMO graph.

The low death rate was announced as the ministry said the positivity rate from rapid tests increased to 0.4 per cent from 0.2 per cent over the same period and the cumulative diagnosis rate in Cyprus increased from 168.7 per 100,000 to 263.5 per 100,000.

Of the 283 deaths of people on the island who had tested positive for coronavirus since the outbreak, 232 were attributed to the virus.

Covid-19 deaths are significantly higher in men than women, the report showed, as 155 of the deaths were male and 77 were women.

While 55 of the coronavirus deaths belong to the 80-84 age group, the majority (36) were male and 19 were female.

Most of them, 85 people, came from Nicosia and 69 from Limassol. Larnaca recorded 43 deaths, Paphos 18, Famagusta 11 and there are six cases without any information available as to their origin.

The highest number of deaths, according to the biweekly reports, was recorded in December and January with 85 and 86 Covid-19 deaths respectively.