Coronavirus: four deaths, 446 new cases announced on Saturday (Updated)

The health ministry announced four deaths and 446 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday from 49,314 PCR and rapid tests with a a positivity rate of 0.9 per cent.

The deaths concerned three men aged 87, 59, and 73, and a woman aged 77. All had underlying conditions. Only the 87-year-old was vaccinated with both doses. He died in Larnaca hospital. The 59-year-old died in Nicosia ICU, the 73-year-old at Limassol hospital and the woman at the Famagusta reference hospital.

The latest casualties bring the total deaths to 272, of which 179 were men and 93 women with an average age of 79.

There are 204 people in hospitals 52 of whom are in serious condition. Of these, 30 are intubated.

Of the 49,314 tests on Saturday, 4,401 were PCR and 44,913 rapid test with a total new positives found of  446 as follows:

• 93 from 976 samples tested through contact tracing.
• 3 from 1,273 samples taken as part of a passenger checks
• 54 from 1,707 samples taken through private initiative.
• 11 from 256 samples tested at hospital labs
• 11 from 554 samples tested at private labs and pharmacies
• 274 from 44,359 samples tested from the ministry’s screening programme

In addition, 189 samples taken under the programme of referrals by personal physicians found no positives.

From the 274 positives found in the free rapid testing programme, 75 were in Nicosia, 113 in Limassol, 46 in Larnaca, 21 in Paphos and 13 in Famagusta. There was also one case in a care-home in Nicosia.