Coronavirus: Two deaths, 269 new cases from record 109,846 tests (updated)

Two people died from coronavirus on Sunday and 269 new cases were found among a record 109,846 tests, the ministry of health announced.

The two deaths bring to 336 the number of people who have died so far.

They refer to a woman aged 79 with no history of vaccination who died in Nicosia general and an 82-old-man who had had at least one dose who had been in the same hospital.

Of the 226 people to have died so far 221 were men and 115 women.

The 269 new cases represent a positivity rate of 0.24 per cent and bring to 69,432 the total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.

Of the 109,846 tests 7,110 were PCR and 102,736 rapid tests.

The biggest share, 193 cases were found among the rapid tests carried out as part of the government’s screening programme.

Among the record number of rapid tests, 35,570 were carried out in Nicosia where 54 cases were found (a positivity rate of 0.15 per cent), 22,007 in Limassol with 69 cases (0.31 per cnet), 12,481 in Larnaca where 23 cases were found (0.19 per cent), 7,736 in Paphos with five cases (0.06 per cent) and 5,662 in Famagusta where 11 cases were found (0.19 per cent).

Testing at schools found 15 cases in Nicosia from 6,617 tests, two in Limassol from 3,854 tests, five in Larnaca from 3,519 tests, two in Paphos from 2,003 tests and five in Famagusta from 2,091 tests.

A total of 130 tests in old people’s homes found two cases.

Of the remaining cases 11 were contacts of known cases, found from 668 tests. Another three were from 4,522 tests carried out on passengers at the island’s two airports.

Fifty cases were found among 1,273 samples taken through private initiative while 10 were found among 647 tests at labs in the island’s hospitals. In addition two were found from 283 rapid tests in private labs and pharmacies.

There are a total of 224 people being treated for Covid in hospital, 62 of whom are in a serious condition.

Of these 62, a total of 32 are intubated and three more are being treated in an intensive care unit but not intubated, while 27 are being looked after in a high dependency unit.

In the north, 34 new Covid cases were announced on Sunday.

They were found among 7,060 tests carried out in the last 24 hours.

Three related to arrivals from overseas, nine were contacts of already known cases and 22 were infected in the community.

The total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic in the north has reached 6,681, while 33 people have lost their lives to the virus.