Cyprus saw almost 1,700 reinfections of coronavirus in the last ten days, the health ministry announced on Tuesday, as the Omicron variant remains dominant in the community.

Despite a slight drop in infections, some 435 Omicron cases were detected in previous weeks, while another 169 were traced from 192 samples taken on Friday, the ministry said.

The variant was traced after 133 samples taken between January 9 and 16, of whom 126, or 94.7 per cent, concerned the Omicron variant, and seven the Delta variant. No person infected with the Omicron variant was hospitalised from the specific 126 cases.

Omicron was also traced in 39 of the 59 samples taken from people hospitalised with coronavirus between January 1 and 17. Of the 59, seven concerned the Delta variant and another 13 were unspecified.

From January 15 to 24, a total of 1,690 people were reinfected with coronavirus, the ministry said, without specifying the variant.

Another 567 cases traced between January 8 and 14 were imported, it added.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases recorded a 35 per cent decrease between January 15 and 21 compared with the previous period spanning January 8 to 14.

The decrease was recorded across all age groups, with the total number of Covid infections traced in the last ten days being 13,997 compared with 21,686 cases in the previous period.

Most cases, 4,026, were recorded in Nicosia, followed by 3,148 in Limassol, 2,037 in Larnaca, 1,137 in Paphos, 654 in Famagusta and seven in the British Bases. The remaining 2,988 cases had no origin information, the ministry said.