Coronavirus: Four deaths, 1,421 test positive on Thursday (Updated)

Authorities on Thursday announced four more deaths attributed to Covid-19, while testing came up with 1,421 new positives to the virus.

The latest fatalities were: a man aged 58 who passed away on August 21, 2021; a woman aged 90, who died on Wednesday, April 13 this year; and two men, aged 89 and 87, who expired on Thursday.

That takes the death toll to 988 since March 2020.

Meanwhile hospitals were treating 157 patients, of whom 31 said to be in a serious condition. Of the 31 serious cases, seven were intubated, two more in ICU but off the ventilator, and 22 in high-dependency units.

In addition, 10 post-Covid patients continued to be intubated.

The health ministry reported that 49.05 per cent of those in hospital did not have a record of vaccination.

The day’s 1,421 positives were detected from a total of 67,206 tests – a positivity rate of 2.11 per cent.

Contact tracing found 13 positives from 126 samples; private initiative tracked 892 positives from 23,682 tests; and the health ministry’s screening programmes detected 462 positives from 41,585 samples.

Notably, the Test-to-Stay programme came up with 11 positives from 1,426 tests; and 12 people in nursing homes tested positive from 1,248 tests.

The health ministry reiterated that, as of April 15, the daily Covid bulletin will be replaced with a weekly report; the first weekly report will be published on April 22.

In the north of the island, authorities reported one more death and 211 new positives from testing.

The death toll there stands at 232.