The health ministry on Saturday announced 218 new coronavirus cases from 48,428 rapid and PCR tests, bringing the positivity rate to 0.45 per cent.

No new Covid deaths were recorded.

There were 82 patients with coronavirus treated at state hospitals, of whom 32 were in serious condition and ten were intubated.

According to the ministry, a total of 62.2 per cent of the hospitalised patients were unvaccinated.

The recent cases bring the total number of people who have tested positive to Covid in the government-controlled areas since the pandemic outbreak to 127,478.

Of the 48,428 tests, 4,342 concerned PCR testing and 44,086 rapid antigen tests.

Most cases, 107, were traced through 33,544 samples at private labs and pharmacies, while 62 people tested positive at the various free rapid testing sites of the health ministry.

Another 42 were detected following 2,217 tests by private initiative and five were detected from 140 samples during contact tracing.