Coronavirus death toll rises to seven,confirmed cases rise to 230

A 77-year-old coronavirus carrier died on Monday, raising the death toll in the Republic of Cyprus to seven, while 16 more tested positive bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 230.

According to the Health Ministry’s daily briefing on Monday, 130 of the confirmed cases were contacts of other known cases.

Hospitals are treating 10 confirmed cases on life support, with their condition described as critical but stable, while so far 22 persons have recovered from the virus.

In the north, confirmed cases reached 69 on Monday after five more people tested positive for the virus, while one person died. A total of 1,177 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the north.

Announcing the new confirmed cases on Monday, Leontios Kostrikis, Professor of Molecular Virology at the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Cyprus, said that 16 new cases were confirmed out of a batch of 400 samples that were processed on Monday.

The 16 new cases involve two ‘imported’ cases as the pair had recently returned from European countries, four people who were tested after being identified as contacts of other known cases, and 10 people whose history is under investigation.

Kostrikis highlighted that the people whose history is under investigation are not ‘orphan’ cases, meaning cases not linked to other confirmed carriers.

“It means that we are still at the stage of investigation to ascertain from where the person contracted the illness,” Kostrikis said.

On the basis of the new developments, Kostrikis said that the total number of confirmed cases in the Republic of Cyprus rose to 230, including five that have been confirmed in the British Bases.

Kostrikis noted that the 230 cases were identified after the conducting of a sum of 6,847 lab tests, adding that so far 22 people who had tested positive for the virus have recovered.

Kostrikis highlighted the importance of abiding by the new stricter measures announced earlier on Monday by the Health Ministry, and urged the public to limit its movement, noting that “since there is no vaccine or specific medicine, this is the only way to protect ourselves and those around us from the virus.”

Dr Marios Loizou, Scientific Director of the Nicosia division of the State Health Services Organization, said that “unfortunately in the battle against the pandemic we lost another person, a 77-year-old man.”

Loizou said that the death on Monday raised the death toll in the Republic of Cyprus to seven, six men and one woman, of an average age of 66. Five of the fatalities had underlying health conditions.

According to the information valid until 3pm on Monday, the Famagusta General Hospital was treating 24 confirmed cases, five of which were in the ICU. The Limassol General was treating 10 cases, three of which were in the ICU, while seven confirmed cases were hospitalized at the Nicosia General ICU.

Loizou stressed that “the 10-15-20 new cases were hear about daily are few numerically, but are a lot proportionally.”

He urged the public to take the virus seriously, noting that the pneumonia, the respiratory deficiencies, and other complications involving the heart, that are caused by coronavirus, create very difficult circumstances for patients.

Around 80 per cent of those that contract the virus are expected suffer mild symptoms, Loizou said, while the remaining 15-20 per cent will require hospitalization and 5 per cent will require intensive care.

“I apologize for having to talk of deaths every day, it is not easy for us either, but this is our new reality. As the situation has unfolded things are either white or black. We either show discipline or we don’t. We return to the life we knew and liked soon, or we experience death right next to us, in ways we never expected. As a people we have survived difficult conditions many times over, let’s survive again,” Loizou said.