Coronavirus: Two deaths, 2,109 new cases

The health ministry on Wednesday announced two deaths from coronavirus and another 2,109 infections from 86,525 tests, resulting in a positivity rate of 2.44 per cent.

The deaths of two women aged 71 and 85 brings the total since the start of the pandemic to 859.

There are currently 145 coronavirus patients in state hospitals, 28 of them in serious condition. Of the 28, 13 are in the ICU, 11 are intubated and the remaining two are on the ventilator. Of the hospitalised coronavirus patients, 59.32 per cent do not have a vaccination history.

There are also 19 post-Covid patients intubated in the ICU, the ministry added.

Of the 86,525 tests, 3,369 were PCR tests that resulted in 295 positive cases, a positivity rate of 8.73 per cent.

The remaining 83,156 were rapid tests which led to the detection of 1,815 infections – a positivity rate of 2.18 per cent.

Of the new infections, 97 were from contact tracing (36 from 352 PCR tests and 61 from rapid tests.

A total of 1,556 PCR tests were carried out by private initiative with 211 cases reported while another 42,746 rapid tests were carried out with 1,147 new infections reported.

And 668 positive cases were reported after 40,410 rapid tests as part of the health ministry’s programme. Of these, 488 were at rapid testing sites (20,448 tests), 66 at secondary schools (11,692 tests) and 39 from test-to-stay programme (4,010 tests).

In addition, 1,235 tests were carried out at care homes with five cases detected. Six infections were reported after 1,995 tests at closed facilities. None were reported after 1-3 tests at government services, while three were reported after 218 tests in industrial areas.