The health ministry announced four deaths and 171 cases of Covid-19 on Friday.

The deaths concerned a 77-year-old woman, a 72-year-old man, a 51-year-old man and a 66-year-old man, all of whom passed away at Nicosia hospital after being treated in the ICU.

The death toll now stands at 346, of whom 229 were men and 117 women with an average age of 77.5.

There are 155 coronavirus patients in state hospitals, 51 of whom are in serious condition. Of the 51 patients, 24 are intubated, four are in ICU and 23 in the High Dependency Unit.

A total of 92,823 PCR and rapid antigen tests were carried out today, with 171 cases and a positivity rate of 0.18 per cent. Of the 40,811 tests, 5,195 were PCR and 87,628 rapid tests.

The total number of positives to date is 70,742.

Seventy seven of the 171 cases came from 86,367 rapid tests performed at health ministry testing sites, with 12 more cases found out of 1,261 rapid tests performed at private labs and pharmacies.

Forty nine cases came from 2,639 samples taken through private initiative, while 2,344 samples taken through contacts of already confirmed cases yielded 32 positives.

One positive came from 138 samples processed by hospital labs, while 74 samples taken through GP referrals yielded no positives.

Twenty three cases were detected from rapid tests in Nicosia (0.07 per cent positivity rate), 23 in Limassol (0.12 per cent positivity rate), 21 in Larnaca (0.18 per cent positivity rate), three in Paphos (0.05 per cent positivity rate) and three in Famagusta (0.06 per cent positivity rate).