Four people died from Covid-19 and 159 new infections were detected in the past 24 hours after 76,913 tests, the health ministry said on Monday.

The positivity rate was 0.21 per cent.

The deaths concern two women, 66 and 89, and two men, 73 and 84.

The number of deaths since March last year has now reached 532 while infections stood at 118,090.

The virus has so far claimed the lives of 341 men and 191 women. The average age is 76.4.

Forty-five out of 107 people hospitalised with Covid were in serious or critical condition on Monday, the ministry said.

Around 82 per cent of hospitalised patients were not vaccinated.

Ten people who have since tested negative for Covid were intubated in ICUs.

Of the 45 patients in serious or critical condition, 19 were intubated, one was being treated in an ICU but was not on a ventilator, and 25 were in high dependency units.

The ministry said 14 new cases concerned close contacts. They were detected among 215 samples.

Five cases were detected in 2,679 tests carried out at the two airports and 26 cases were among 1,694 samples tested privately.

Seven cases were reported by state hospital labs in 279 samples. Private labs and pharmacies also reported 82 cases after 50,693 tests and state screening units recorded an additional 25 cases in 21,109 samples.

Turkish Cypriots reported one death and 124 new cases.