Coronavirus: One third of Covid cases asymptomatic

One in three new coronavirus cases in the last two weeks of February were asymptomatic, the health ministry said on Friday in the latest national report on the Covid outbreak.

Infection in the community remains high, despite further improvement in the epidemiological situation, the report covering the period February 15 to 28 showed.

Over that period, 27,674 cases were diagnosed, giving a 14-day cumulative diagnosis rate of 3,116.4 per 100,000 population.

This is down from the 36,018 cases diagnosed in the previous fortnight where the 14-day cumulative diagnosis rate was 4,056.1 per 100,000 population.

The median age for new cases over February 14 to 28 was 31 years. Information was available for 81.9 per cent of the cases, of which 53.6 per cent were female, and 46.4 per cent male.

The overwhelming majority of cases (26,734 or 97.5 per cent) were locally acquired.

Overall, as of February 28, the total number of diagnosed Covid cases stood at 321,419, of which 863 died (case fatality risk: 0.3 per cent).

As of March 2, there were 142 coronavirus patients in state hospitals (down from 196 on February 14) with a median age of 73 years.

Of these, 58.4 per cent (80 out of 137 with available information) are males, and 33.3 per cent (30 out of 90 with information on district) are from Nicosia. Twenty-two cases (20.2 per cent) still hospitalised have comorbidities (out of 109).

There were 13 intubated patients as of March 2, with a median age of 58. Of these seven are women. Only four of the 13 have comorbidities.

According to the report, over the last 14 days, 94,921 PCR and 1,347,575 rapid antigen tests have been performed – corresponding to 10,689.3 PCR and 151,753.9 rapid antigen tests per 100,000 population.

By age group, cases included 9,628 individuals aged 0-19 (34.8 per cent), 14,823 individuals aged 20-59 (53.6 per cent), and 3,210 individuals aged 60 and older (11.6 per cent). For 13 cases age was not known.

Among all the cases diagnosed in the last 14 days, district information was available for 81.5 per cent cases, of which 8,270 (36.7 per cent) were reported in Nicosia district, 7,112 (31.5 per cent) in Limassol, 3,556 (15.8 per cent) in Larnaca, 2,597 (11.5 per cent) in Paphos, 1,007 (4.5 per cent) in Famagusta and six cases had residence abroad.

As regards clinical features, in the last 14 days, information was available for 91.8 per cent cases of which 36.6 per cent (9,292) reported no symptoms and 63.4 per cent (16,113) reported at least one symptom.

And 1,428 (5.5 per cent) reported at least one comorbidity.

Up until February 28, a total of 863 Covid-19 associated deaths were reported, giving a Case Fatality Risk of 0.3 per cent. The Covid-19 associated mortality is 97.2 per 100,000 population.

Deaths occurred in 532 men (61.7 per cent) and 331 (38.3 per cent) women.

The median age of death of people whose death was associated with Covid-19 was 78 years.

By district of residence, 306 people (35.5 per cent) from Limassol died, 264 (30.6 per cent) from Nicosia, 156 (18.1 per cent) from Larnaca, 78 (9 per cent) from Paphos, 48 (5.6 per cent) from Famagusta, and 11 deaths (1.2 per cent) occurred among cases where district information was not available or who had a residence abroad.

The median time from date of sampling to death (due to Covid-19) was 14 days.

In total, 2.5 per cent (7,881) of people diagnosed with Covid-19 till February 28 received hospital care. The median age of hospitalised patients was 61.

Excluding 32 cases (0.4 per cent) for which sex information is not available, hospitalised cases were mainly males (56 per cent). Overall, 844 cases (10.7 per cent of all hospitalised patients) have been admitted to ICU. The median age of patients admitted to ICU was 66 years. ICU patients were mainly males (62.8 per cent).

The overall median length of stay in ICU (for all ICU cases) was 12 days.