Coronavirus: Two deaths, 529 new cases (Updated)

The health ministry announced two deaths and 529 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday.

The dead are an 83-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man. Both had underlying health conditions, the latter a very serious heart condition. The woman, who had received one dose of the vaccine, died at Larnaca hospital while the man died in Nicosia.

This brings the total deaths to 266, of whom 176 were men and 90 women with an average age of 79.

There are 210 people in hospitals, 48 of whom are in serious condition. Of the 48 patients who are critical, 24 are intubated, two are in ICU and 22 in the High Dependency Unit.

A total of 47,181 PCR and rapid tests were carried out with 529 new cases, a positivity rate of 1.12 per cent.

The total number of positives to date is 49,366.

Of the 47,181 tests 3,661 were PCR and 43,520 rapid tests. The majority, 285 of the 529 positives came through rapid testing while 132 came from 756 samples taken through contact tracing and 98 from 1,909 samples taken through private initiative.

Ten positives were detected from 242 samples processed by hospital labs and two from 239 samples taken through GP referrals.

In addition, 515 samples were taken at airports with two positives.

Seventy-nine cases were detected in Nicosia, 86 in Limassol, 53 in Larnaca, 22 in Paphos and 17 in Famagusta.

In the north, 88 new cases were announced on Wednesday from 8,251 tests.