The health ministry said Saturday 404 new coronavirus infections were detected in the past 24 hours after 50,343 tests, but there were no deaths.

The positivity rate on Saturday was 0.80 per cent, the ministry said.

According to a statement, 199 people were being treated in hospital with coronavirus, 45 in serious or critical condition.

The number of cases since the start of the pandemic reached 47,282.

The ministry said 261 people have died from Covid-19, in the past year. The majority, 173, of the fatalities concerned men, and the average age was 79.

Of the 45 patients in serious condition, 21 were intubated, five were being treated in an ICU without intubation, and 19 in high dependency units.

The ministry said 3,596 of the 50,343 tests were PCR and the rest antigen.

Of the 404 cases, 66 were close contacts of previously confirmed infections detected in 89 samples. The number is markedly lower than Friday’s which saw over 300 contacts testing positive from close to 1,500 tests.

Authorities announced 705 cases on Friday, but officials said a lot of the close contacts were from Thursday, which was a bank holiday.

Two cases were caught at the airports where 1,287 passengers were tested, and 78 were found among 1,845 samples tested by private labs.

State hospital labs reported 15 cases among 309 samples and an additional 11 were reported by private labs and pharmacies which tested 461 samples using rapid antigen tests.

Most infections, 232, were detected in 46,286 samples tested as part of the government’s mass screening programme.

Limassol continued to lead in infections, recording 86 in 13,475 tests, a positivity rate of 0.64 per cent. Nicosia followed with 78 cases in 17,516 tests, 0.45 per cent, Larnaca, 34 in 7,341 tests, 0.46 per cent, Paphos, 18 in 4,731, 0.38 per cent, and Famagusta, 8 in 2,207 tests, 0.36 per cent.

Four cases were detected in Nicosia care homes after 86 tests, and three in Paphos care homes after 22.

One case was detected in 847 tests carried out in other similar facilities.