Authorities on Thursday announced two more deaths attributed to Covid-19, while testing tracked 632 new positives to the coronavirus as the number of hospitalised continued to climb.

The two latest fatalities were both men, aged 75 and 74, who passed away at Paphos general hospital and Famagusta general hospital, respectively.

That brings the death toll to 616 since March 2020. The average age of the deceased is 75.9 years.

In hospitals meanwhile 165 people were being treated for Covid-19. Of these 51 were in a serious condition – 18 intubated, four in ICU but not on a ventilator, and 29 in high-dependency units.

In addition, eight post-Covid patients continued to be intubated in ICU.

The health ministry reported that 75.76 per cent of the hospitalised did not have a record of vaccination.

The 632 positives on the day were detected from a total of 87,028 tests, of which 8,762 were done with PCR. The day’s positivity rate stood at 0.73 per cent.

A breakdown of Thursday’s positives: 110 from 1,359 samples via contact tracing; 30 from 4,607 samples taken as part of screening at the airports; 72 from 2,416 samples taken by private initiative; 13 from 291 samples processed by the microbiology laboratories at the general hospitals; 269 from 45,807 samples (antigen rapid tests) processed by private clinical labs and pharmacies; and 138 from 32,459 samples as part of the government free screening programme.

No positives emerged from tests at nursing homes in Nicosia and Limassol districts. In primary and secondary schools, 39 positives were tracked from 21,147 tests.

In the north, authorities reported two more Covid deaths, while 186 new positives were detected.