Coronavirus: One death, 213 new infections announced on Saturday (updated)

One person has died from Covid-19 as 213 new infections were detected in the past 24 hours after 47, 772 tests, a positivity rate of 0.45 per cent, the health ministry said on Saturday.

At the same time, 152 people were being treated in hospital, 59 in serious or critical condition. Close to 83 per cent of the Covid patients have no vaccination history.

Fourteen people who have since tested negative continue to be intubated in the ICU.

The number of deaths since the start of the pandemic last year has reached 497 with recorded infections standing at 113,069.

Saturday’s death concerns an 85-year-old man who died at the Covid hospital in Famagusta.

Of the 59 patients in serious or critical condition, 24 are intubated, four are being treated in the ICU but are not on ventilators, and 31 are in high dependency units.

The ministry said 27 of the 213 new cases concerned close contacts. They were detected in 266 samples.

Three cases concern passengers who arrived from overseas and were among 2,747 samples tested at the two airports.

Forty cases were detected after 2,477 tests conducted privately and eight were reported by state hospital labs after 105 tests.

Two cases were reported in 166 samples randomly collected at the port.

Private labs and pharmacies reported 82 cases in 27, 219 samples tested while units participating in the state’s mass screening programme reported 51 cases in 14,584 tests.