Cyprus holds steady with zero new cases

No new confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in Cyprus on Saturday, authorities announced, with a combined total number of cases remaining at 1093 on the divided island.

In the Republic of Cyprus, 808 laboratory tests were carried out on Saturday according to Greek Cypriot authorities, while Turkish Cypriot officials said they conducted 599 tests in the north.

In the south, a press release issued by the health ministry said that according to the Epidemiological Monitoring Unit no one tested positive after tests were carried out on 192 passengers and people who have been repatriated, 179 citizens on private initiative, 101 lab tests conducted through an established monitoring programme for testing 20,000 students and school staff, while one test was carried out through a similar programme targeting a pool of 10,000 employees.

Moreover, no positive cases were detected after testing 149 samples through a testing programme for 10,000 employees in businesses that resumed operations during the second and the third phases of easing restrictive measures.

Sixteen samples tested through the contact tracing method, which examines links to confirmed cases, also yielded zero infections, while 45 tests handled at state hospital labs and 125 samples from personal doctor and health centre referrals all tested negative.

By Saturday afternoon, according to the Cyprus News Agency, one patient was being treated at Famagusta General Hospital, which is the referral hospital for COVID-19 patients. It was understood the patient remained in the ICU.

Meanwhile, health ministry data released on Saturday showed that 26 Covid-19-related deaths in the Republic were recorded until June 18, with SARS-CoV-2 listed as the cause of death in 19 of those cases.

In the north, Turkish Cypriot authorities said a total of four patients have died of the coronavirus while no patient was being treated in the ICU. Officials said a total of 35,445 samples were tested with 108 having tested positive for the bug.

In the south, it is estimated that over 165,000 samples have been tested.