Coronavirus: Four deaths, 2,200 new cases

Authorities on Thursday announced four more deaths attributed to Covid-19, while testing tracked 2,200 new positives.

The latest fatalities are: a woman aged 67, who passed away on Wednesday; and three men – aged 63, 89 and 93 – who expired on Thursday.

The Covid death toll since March 2020 stands at 802.

Meanwhile 168 patients were being treated in hospitals, of whom 43 were in a serious condition. Of those in a serious condition, 12 were intubated and 31 in high-dependency units.

In addition, 29 post-Covid patients continued to be intubated in ICU.

The health ministry reported that 66.08 per cent of those in hospital did not have a record of vaccination.

Thursday’s 2,200 positives came from 99,502 tests, for a positivity rate of 2.21 per cent.

Contact tracing found 22 positives from 255 samples; private testing yielded 208 positives from 1,880 samples; tests through the health ministry’s programmes tracked 732 positives; 86 positives from 22,686 samples from schools; and 34 positives from 3,035 samples from the Test-to-Stay scheme.

Notably, 12 positives came up from 1,049 tests at nursing homes.

In the north, a total of 13,903 tests over the past 24 hours came up with 506 positives. The cumulative total of positives in the north is 63,576.