Coronavirus: two deaths, 383 new cases announced on Friday (Updated)

The health ministry announced two deaths and 383 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday.

The deaths concerned two men, a 70-year-old and a 69-year-old, both with underlying conditions. One died in Famagusta hospital and the other at Nicosia hospital after being treated in the ICU.

This brings the total deaths to 238, of whom 158 were men and 80 women with an average age of 79.

There are 195 people in hospitals, 36 of whom are in serious condition. Of the 36 patients who are critical, 21 are intubated, two are in ICU and 13 in the High Dependency Unit.

A total of 57,337 tests were carried out by means of PCR and rapid tests with 383 new cases and a positivity rate of 0.67 per cent.

The total number of positives to date is 38,879.

Of the 57,337 tests 2,822 were PCR and 54,515 rapid tests. The majority, 202 of the 383 positives came through rapid testing while 111 came from 753 samples taken through contact tracing, and 56 cases from 1,315 samples taken through private initiative.

Out of 212 samples processed by hospital labs and taken through GP referrals, 13 were positive.

In addition, only one positive case was detected from 510 samples taken at airports.

Thirty cases were detected in Nicosia, 129 in Limassol, 11 in Larnaca, two in Paphos and two in Famagusta.

In the north, 38 new cases were announced on Friday through 6,623 PCR tests performed in the last 24 hours.

In a written statement, ‘health minister’ Unal Ustel said that three cases were detected at the airport, four from contact tracing and 31 local infections.

Fourteen cases were detected in Nicosia and 17 in Kyrenia.