Coronavirus: Three deaths, 433 new cases announced on Thursday

The health ministry on Thursday announced three deaths and 433 positive Covid-19 cases of which 94 are verifications of rapid tests of previous days.

The deceased are two men and one woman, aged 83, 94 and 95, with underlying health conditions.

Another 154 positive cases from rapid tests were detected today, but these have still to be verified, the ministry added.

And there are 142 Covid-19 patients in the island’s hospitals, of whom 34 are in serious condition.

Today’s deceased are a man, aged 83, at Famagusta General,  a 94-year-old man at Nicosia General and a woman, aged 95, who was living at the Ayios Antonios care home.

They bring the total number of deaths attributed to coronavirus to 107, of whom 64 per cent men. The average age is 80.

Thirty four of the 142 hospitalised Covid-19 patients are in critical condition – 16 of them are intubated, one is in the ICU but off the ventilator and 17 are in increased care units.

The 433 new coronavirus cases emerged from 4024 PCR tests. Of these 172 were from contact tracing, 122 from private initiative, 45 from hospital labs and 94 from verifications of rapid tests.

A total of 19,316 people have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of the outbreak in March.

In addition, the ministry said that 4696 rapid tests were carried out on Thursday, resulting in 154 positive results which must be confirmed by PCR.

The distribution was: Limassol 20 (positivity rate 3.06 per cent), Larnaca 43 (positivity rate 5.64 per cent), Nicosia 33 (positivity rate 1.74 per cent), Paphos three (positivity rate 1.22 per cent) and Famagusta 15 (positivity rate 3.95 per cent).

In addition there were six positives from a Nicosia care home and 34 from private initiative.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.