Coronavirus death toll rises, confirmed cases reach 396

The Republic of Cyprus recorded another coronavirus fatality on Friday, involving a 64-year-old man with underlying health conditions, while 40 more people tested positive for the virus.

Confirmed cases in the Republic of Cyprus reached 396 on Friday, including the 10 cases that were confirmed in the British Bases, according to the Health Ministry’s daily briefing.

Cases in the north remained stable at 81, while two who had contracted the virus have so far died.

The 40 new cases confirmed in the Republic of Cyprus involve 29 people who were tracked down as contacts of other known cases, two people who flown into the island from abroad where they had contracted the virus, and nine people whose history is still under examination as the source of their infection remains unclear.

According to Dr Marios Loizou, Scientific Director of the Nicosia division of the State Health Services Organization, a member of the three-person panel delivering the daily coronavirus update, a total of 13 people who had contracted coronavirus have died so far, though only nine of the deaths can be fully attributed the virus, while the remaining four had died from other causes.

Dr Loizou said that “after yesterday's presentation of the epidemiological data, the process of coding the final cause of death was implemented using IRIS software,” which, as he explained, determines the true cause of death of those who had been infected with the virus, taking into consideration that many of the patients have underlying conditions which may constitute primary causes of death.

The average of the fatalities is 66, while 86% are men and 14% are women, Dr Loizou said.

The 396 cases that have so far tested positive were part of a total of 9,447 samples that have so far been tested for coronavirus. A sum of 268 confirmed cases are contacts of other known coronavirus carriers.

So far, 27 persons have recovered.

According to data valid until 3pm on Friday, 37 confirmed cases were being treated at the Famagusta General Hospital, five of which were in the hospital’s ICU; two cases were on life support at the Limassol General Hospital ICU, while one was at a general patients’ ward of the hospital; and nine were on life support at the ICU of the Nicosia General Hospital. The condition of all hospitalized patients is described as critical but stable.