Coronavirus: One death and 249 new cases (updated)

One Covid-19 death and 249 new coronavirus infections were reported by the health ministry on Tuesday evening, raising the death toll to 575.

There are currently 70 patients receiving treatment for Covid-19 in hospital, of whom 60 per cent are unvaccinated. Of these 26 are in serious condition.

The ministry said the death was that of a 64-year-old man who passed away on Monday at Nicosia general hospital.

A total of 52,138 tests (4,718 PCR and 47,420 rapid) identified the 249 cases, giving a positivity rate of 0.48 per cent.

The breakdown for the PCR tests is as follows: 37 from 405 contact tracing tests, six from 2,260 airport tests, 33 from 1,505 private tests, eight from 266 hospital tests and one from 282 tests following referrals from GPs.

The 28,174 rapid tests taken privately – typically among the unvaccinated who are no longer eligible for the government’s free screening programme – identified 121 positives.

The government’s 19,246 rapid tests – as part of the screening programme for select groups and the vaccinated – identified 43 positives.

Notably, no tests returned positive from those taken at care homes and just one was identified among the almost 2,500 rapid tests taken at primary schools.

Of the 12,133 rapid tests taken at secondary schools, 17 returned positive.

Meanwhile, the north reported that 149 people had tested positive on Tuesday following 23,977 tests. The total number of reported infections there totals 22,763 along with 88 Covid-19 related fatalities.