Coronavirus: Small improvement, but cases still high

The 14-day cumulative diagnosis rate for coronavirus in Cyprus remains high despite a small decrease from last month with the majority of cases being people under 60, the health ministry said on Friday.

Cyprus recorded 9,186 coronavirus cases between April 20 and May 3, translating into a diagnosis rate of 1,034.5 per 100,000 population, according to the ministry’s weekly epidemiological report.

The cases came from 99,753 PCR and 533,676 rapid antigen tests. Cyprus entered a two-week lockdown on April 26.

This was a slight decrease from 1,145.6 per 100,000 recorded the previous two weeks, with the rate dropping in all districts apart from Famagusta where cases increased, the report added.

Specifically, the diagnosis rate in Nicosia over the last 14 days dropped from 1,187.6 to 1,070.7 per 100,000 population, in Limassol the rate was 930.3 from 1,127.3 per 100,000, in Larnaca 1,084.6 from 1,201.3 per 100,000 residents while Paphos recorded a diagnosis rate of 717 from 772.5 per 100,000 population.

The diagnosis rate in Famagusta increased to 918.2 from 871.2 per 100,000 people.

More Covid cases were recorded in younger people in the last two weeks, while the least number of cases were recorded in people aged 80 and over according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, all age groups saw a decrease in the total number of cases recorded the last 14 days compared with the previous period.

The cases included 1,867 infants, children and adolescents aged up to 19 years-old (20.3 per cent), 6,243 adults aged 20-59 years (68 per cent), 1,071 persons aged 60 years and older (11.7 per cent), and for five cases information is not currently available.

The median age was 35 years.

Some 26.8 per cent of the cases, or 2,463 people reported no symptoms before they were diagnosed with the virus.

Despite the improved epidemiological picture, 284 coronavirus patients were in hospital as of May 3, with a median age of 61 years. About half of the patients have previous health issues while 35 were treated in the ICU.

Twenty-seven people died from coronavirus between April 20 to May 5 raising the total number of deaths from the virus to 328 nationwide.

In 2021, the rate of Covid deaths in people aged 60-69 increased by 94 per cent compared with last year. However, a larger increase is presented in the age group 70-79, where in 2021 the death rate increased by 111 per cent. The death rate of people aged 80 and over increased by 21 per cent this year.