The health ministry said there were no coronavirus deaths but announced 773 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday from 56.862 PCR and rapid tests with a positivity rate of 1.36 per cent.

There are 301 people in hospitals of whom 74 are in serious condition. Of these 32 are intubated. The average age of patients is now 58.6.

The death count remains at 298. The average age of death is 78.

Of the 56,862 tests, 3,333 were PCR and 53,529 rapid tests detecting 773 positives as follows:

  • 113 from 826 samples taken through contact tracing
  • 144 from 2,092 samples taken through private initiative
  • 11 from 135 samples processed in hospital labs
  • 10 from 224 samples tested in private clinical laboratories and pharmacies
  • 495 from 53,305 samples taken in the free testing programme

Nicosia saw the biggest number of positives with 198 but performed 21,940 tests and had a positivity rate of 0.9 per cent.

Limassol, although it detected fewer cases at 157, also performed fewer tests at 13,926 but yielded a positivity rate of 1.13 per cent.

Larnaca saw 75 positives from 8,464 tests (positivity rate 0.89 per cent, Paphos had 36 positives but carried out only 4,406 tests (positivity rate 0.83 per cent).

The Famagusta area had 23 positives from 3,356 tests (positivity rate 0.69 per cent).