Coronavirus: Three deaths, 2,028 positives on Friday

The health ministry on Friday announced three more deaths attributed to Covid-19, while testing detected 2,028 positives for coronavirus.

The latest fatalities were a man aged 85 and two women aged 80 and 87. All three people passed away on Friday.

That takes the Covid death toll since March 2020 to 974.

Meanwhile hospitals were treating 202 patients, of whom 24 were said to be in a serious condition. Of the 24 serious cases, four were intubated, three in ICU but not on a ventilator, and 17 in high-dependency units.

In addition, 15 post-Covid patients (no longer infectious) continued to be intubated.

The health ministry reported that 59.4 per cent of those in hospital did not have a record of vaccination.

The day’s 80,771 tests tracked 2,028 positives – representing a positivity rate of 2.5 per cent.

Contact tracing found 76 positives from 487 samples; private initiative tracked 1,344 positives from 31,899 samples; and the government’s screening programmes detected 610 positives from 46,992 tests.

Notably, the Test-to-Stay programme came up with 20 positives from 2,641 tests; and 966 tests at nursing homes found 15 people positive to the coronavirus.

From April 15, cases will only be announced once a week instead of daily, the ministry said on Thursday.