Cyprus coronavirus fatality rate at 1.9%

The fatality rate of COVID-19 in Cyprus stands at 1.9%, with a total of 1,511 COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths recorded until September 8, according to the COVID-19 National Surveillance Report published Friday.

The report, drawn up by the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health, notes that since July 1, of the 513 cases reported, 38% were imported, 56% were locally-acquired, and 6% were unknown.

Among the total of 1,511 cases recorded until September 8, 13.6% are healthcare workers, specifically 2.8% physicians, 6.7% nurses, 0.7% other health occupations, and 3.4% auxiliary staff.

The median age of cases is 39 years, of which 51.6% are male and 48.4% are female. By age group, cases included 114 infants, children and adolescents aged 0-17 years-old (7.5%), 1,114 adults aged 18-59 years (73.7%), and 283 persons aged 60 years and older (18.7%).

Overall, of the 1,338 cases for which the place of exposure was known, locally acquired infections were 966 (72.2%), of which 5.9% were related to a healthcare facility (General Hospital in Paphos) and 13.2% were reported in Aradippou municipality.

Among all cases, 492 (32.6%) were reported in the Nicosia district, 388 (25.7%) in Larnaca, 266 (17.6%) in Limassol, 186 (12.3%) in Paphos, 83 (5.5%) in Famagusta, and 96 (6.4%) were reported either in the British Bases or had a residence abroad, or information was not available.

In total, 13.8% of cases received hospital care, and 5 (2.4%) are still hospitalised either for treatment of COVID-19 symptoms or for pre-existing health conditions. The median age of all hospitalized patients is 62 years and 62.7% are males. There is one patient in intensive care unit and intubated.

Among cases alive, 1,281 (86.4%) cases have recovered (without symptoms and with two negative tests following their diagnosis or released 21 days after diagnosis).

A total of 323,311 tests were performed until September 8 (36,654.9 per 100,000 population). It should be noted that the number of cases, tests and deaths for Cyprus are aggregated and include people from abroad and the British bases, while the total population does not include inhabitants from abroad or from the British bases.

The median time between symptoms onset and date of sampling was three days. It should be noted that for 31 cases the date of sample collection was before the onset of symptoms because of immediate testing of contacts of possible and laboratory-confirmed cases.

Of the 1,511 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-cases, clinical information is available for 98%, of which 39.7% reported no symptoms at diagnosis and 60.3% reported at least one symptom. The most commonly reported symptoms were: cough (26.8%), fever (27.9%), myalgia (18.9%), sore throat (15.7%), anosmia (12%), and shortness of breath (9.4%). Other reported symptoms were diarrhoea, runny nose, and headache.