Coronavirus: two deaths and 135 new cases announced on Friday (Updated)

The health ministry announced two deaths and 135 new cases of Covid-29 on Friday from 79,545 PCR and rapid tests with a positivity rate of 0.17 per cent.

The deaths concerned two men aged 68 and 75. The ministry no longer allows the public to know whether those who died had underlying conditions or whether they were vaccinated or not in the case the public becomes vaccine hesitant.

There are 120 people in hospitals of whom 48 are in serious condition. Of these, 28 are intubated.

The new cases concern 31 people found positive through contact tracing, 13 who got tested privately, and six cases among samples processed in state hospitals’ labs.

Ten people were found positive after getting rapid tests in private labs.

Another 75 were among the rapid tests carried out in all districts on behalf of the health ministry. Of these, 16 were detected during tests in businesses, and one in secondary education.

Another 19 people were found positive in the Nicosia district with a positivity rate of 0.09 per cent, 23 in Limassol (0.16 per cent), 10 in Larnaca (0.13 per cent), two in Paphos (0.04 per cent) and four in the Famagusta district (0.12 per cent).

The total number of people found positive since March 2020 is 71,745.

So far 352 deaths from Covid-19 were recorded: 234 men and 118 women with average age 77.5 years.

The north announced 19 cases out of 7,460 tests. The positivity rate is 0.25 per cent.