Coronavirus: Five deaths, 509 new cases announced on Tuesday (updated)

The health ministry announced five deaths and 509 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday.

The new deaths have brought the total to 326, of whom 213 were men and 113 women, with an average age of 77.8 years.

Four of the five people who died were being treated in the ICU at Nicosia general. They were a 61-year-old man, a 64-year-old woman and 56-year-old man, all with no vaccination history, and a 74-year-old man who had received the first dose of the anti-coronavirus vaccine. The fifth was an 81-year-old man who had also been vaccinated with the first dose, who died at Larnaca hospital.

There are 263 people in hospitals, 65 of whom are in serious condition. Of the 65 patients who are critical, 26 are intubated, six are in ICU without a ventilator and 33 in a high dependency unit.

A total of 62,459 PCR and rapid tests were carried out, with the 509 new cases representing a positivity rate of 0.81 per cent.

The total number of positives to date is 67,420.

Of the 62,459 tests, 4,537 were PCR and 57,922 rapid tests.

The majority, 400 positive cases, came from 57,205 samples taken though the health ministry’s testing programme, with 19 more from 717 rapid tests carried out by private labs and pharmacies.

Thirty-one positives came from 665 samples taken from contacts of already confirmed cases, while 1,520 samples taken through private initiative yielded 47 positives.

Out of 244 samples processed by hospital labs, seven were positive, and 358 samples taken through GP referrals yielded two positives.

In addition, 1,750 samples were taken at airports with three positives.

Nicosia had the most cases, 131, with a positivity rate of 0.64 per cent. Limassol followed with 122 and a positivity rate of 0.88 per cent. Seventy cases were detected in Larnaca with a 0.74 per cent positivity rate, 40 in Paphos with a 0.78 per cent positivity rate and 31 in Famagusta with a 0.86 per cent positivity rate.