Authorities report 198 cases, one death

Cyprus authorities announced one coronavirus fatality and 198 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

The health ministry said that Wednesday saw the death of a 74-year-old man who was receiving treatment at the Famagusta general hospital. Despite suffering underlying health conditions, doctors fully attributed his death to coronavirus.

Coronavirus fatalities increased to 41, involving 25 men (61%) and 16 women (39%), of an average age of 75.

Additionally, 198 new coronavirus cases were detected after 7,049 tests were conducted on Wednesday, raising the total to 7,711.

The health ministry said 64 cases were contacts, 98 were people who took the test independently, 15 were people tested at general hospitals, while eight were either part of special health groups or got referred for testing by their GP after developing symptoms.

From the tests being conducted in all districts to allow employees falling under the Limassol and Paphos travel ban exception categories to move through roadblocks, nine emerged from tests in the Limassol district.

An additional four new cases emerged through the program targeting school staff and students.

The health ministry said 14 of Wednesday’s cases involved people whose infection was confirmed by a PCR test after testing positive to a rapid test.

The Famagusta general hospital is currently treating 57 coronavirus cases, of which six are in the ICU. Ten more coronavirus patients are receiving treatment in the Nicosia general hospital ICU, of which six are intubated. An additional ten are in the hospital’s coronavirus ward.

Wednesday’s rapid test results

With rapid antigen testing programs in full swing, the health ministry announced that among the 3,049 tests conducted by the 11 mobile units stationed across the Republic, 48 new cases emerged, though these must still be confirmed by a PCR test.

In Limassol, 1,031 rapid tests led to the detection of 20 new cases, while 758 rapid tests in Paphos found three new cases. In Nicosia, 611 tests saw 12 new cases, while 347 tests in Larnaca saw seven people test positive. In Famagusta, 302 rapid tests led to six positive cases.