Coronavirus: Two deaths, 140 people test positive on Saturday (Updated)

The health ministry announced that two people had died of Covid-19 and that 140 more had tested positive from 53,472 PCR and rapid tests, a positivity rate of 0.26 per cent.

The deaths concerned a man aged 59 and a woman aged 92. The total number of deaths since March 202o stands at 547 with an average age of 76.

There are 96 people in hospitals of whom 39 are in serious condition. Of these, 17 are intubated.

The ministry said that the percentage of unvaccinated patients was 76 per cent.

Of the 53,472 tests on Saturday, 5,242 were PCR and 48,230 rapid tests yielding 140 positives as follows: 

• 1 from 42 samples taken through contact tracing 
• 4 from 2,404 tests at at airports 
• 42 from 2,654 samples tested on private initiative.
• 8 from 134 samples processed at hospital labs 
• 68 from 33,054 rapid tests at private labs and pharmacies 
• 17 from 15,176 samples taken under the government’s free testing programme for vaccinated people, partially vaccinated people and unvaccinated with exemptions

These 17 positives are broke down as follows: