The health ministry announced three deaths and 2,254 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday.

The new deaths were of two women aged 82 and 91, and a man aged 84, bringing the total death toll to 980.

There are 204 people being treated for coronavirus in hospitals, 29 of whom are in serious condition. Of the 29 patients, five are intubated, four are in ICU without a ventilator, and 20 in a High Dependency Unit.

Of all patients, 56,87 per cent are not vaccinated against Covid.

Eleven post-Covid patients who are no longer infectious are still intubated in the ICU.

A total of 83,217 PCR and rapid antigen tests were carried out on Monday, giving a positivity rate of 2.71 per cent.

Of the 83,217 tests, 79,532 were rapid tests, with 2,023 cases found. The remaining 3,685 tests were PCR with 231 positives.

Most cases were detected through private initiative, with 1,309 detected from 33,673 rapid tests, and 169 from 1,259 PCR tests.

Another 497 cases were recorded after 11,857 rapid tests carried out through the health ministry’s testing programmes.

Meanwhile, 14 people tested positive after 240 PCR tests carried out for contact tracing purposes.

A total of 18,072 rapid tests were carried out in primary schools with 71 cases found, 9,962 in secondary schools with 40 cases found, and 866 in special schools with five cases found.

Meanwhile, the test to stay programme turned up 37 positives from 3,639 tests.

Fifty-five more cases were detected from 1,003 samples taken from care homes, and four more from 326 rapid tests carried out in closed structures.

The total number of cases detected so far is 459,677