Health authorities announced on Thursday that 226 more people have tested positive for the coronavirus via the PCR assay – with 42 more cases from rapid tests being confirmed from previous days – bringing the cumulative total to 7,979 since the start of the outbreak.
The latest 6,356 PCR tests yielded the 226 new positives.
In addition, 6,007 antigen rapid tests were carried out, detecting 93 positives – but these are provisional results pending confirmation via PCR tests. They are thus not being added to the cumulative number for the time being.
Of the 226 new cases, 64 came about from contact tracing. Another 90 were tracked through private initiative; 21 from the microbiology labs at state hospitals; five from doctors’ referrals; three in Limassol among employees who can leave their district; six from the corresponding group in Paphos, and 37 from care homes.
The latter 37 positives emerged from 291 samples.
Tests carried out in schools, migrant reception centres, airports and football clubs all came out negative.
The health ministry clarified that in the meantime, of the rapid tests carried out in previous days, 42 have since been confirmed as positive by being re-checked through the more reliable PCR test.
A day earlier, authorities had reported the cumulative since the start of the outbreak as 7,711 cases. Adding to that the 226 PCR positives of Thursday, plus the 42 confirmed rapid tests, brings the total to 7979.
On the hospital front, 64 people are being treated at the Famagusta referral hospital for Covid-19; of these, five are in the high-dependency unit.
In addition, 10 patients are currently in ICU at Nicosia general hospital, four of them not intubated. Another seven people are being treated in the hospital’s Covid-19 ward.
Also on Thursday it emerged that 32 people tested positive for the coronavirus in a home for the elderly in the village of Kyperounta.
Of the 32, 20 were elderly residents and 12 were staff.
All but one of the residents had mild symptoms. The person who was in a more serious condition has since been taken to Famagusta general hospital.
A spokesman for the local community told CyBC that a few days ago one of the elderly residents at Kyperounta was taken to a hospital in Troodos for an unrelated health issue; the person tested positive on admission to the hospital.
Once authorities were alerted to this incident, the entire Kyperounta facility were subjected to coronavirus tests.
