Ministry says Cyprus under new wave of hospital admissions

The number of coronavirus cases being detected in Cyprus has been rising consistently over the past two weeks, while hospitals have also seen increasing numbers of patients under 60 being admitted, a new national surveillance report published Friday showed.

The report, published by the Health Ministry and dealing with the two weeks between March 24 and April 6, showed an observable hike in the island’s 14-day cumulative diagnosis rate, which reached over 621.1 per 100,000 people, up from 548.5 per 100,000 two weeks ago.

The surge was particularly acute in the Nicosia and Larnaca districts, with Nicosia marking a cumulative diagnosis rate of 524.2 per 100,000 people compared to 358 two weeks ago while Larnaca stands at 555.7 per 100,000 people, up from 404.7.

Limassol on the other hand, despite remaining within significantly high and unsafe levels, continued to mark a steady drop to reach 899.7 per 100,000 people compared to 978.7 two weeks ago.

The Health Ministry noted that the cumulative diagnosis rate also showed a stabilisation of people over 60 contracting the disease compared with younger age groups.

In particular, between March 24 and April 6, 5,515 new COVID-19 cases were recorded with a median age of 34 years, 52.8% or 2,911 were women and 47.2% or 2,603 were men, while for one case information was not available.
 
Hospitals, the Ministry said, have “recorded a new wave of admissions.”

According to the report’s data, Limassol continues to be the district with more hospitalisations (47.6%) recording a new increase after having had a significant drop. Nicosia and Larnaca follow.

The age of people needing hospital treatment is largely under 60 and there is no upward trend for people over 75 while the average admissions of people between 70 and 74 seems to be dropping. The median age of people in hospital was 63, while the median age of patients treated in ICUs was 66.

ICUs have come under a small amount of pressure “however we are at a distance from the dangerous zone for ICUs” the Ministry says, assuring that “all hospital indices are monitored on a daily basis.”

According to the data, on April 8, 29 people were treated at ICUs, 23 of whom were intubated. Their median age was 66, while 20 or 69% were men. In total 20 (69%) patients treated at ICUs had underlying health problems.

The weekly positivity rate from rapid antigen tests carried out through a Ministry of Health screening programme records a significant increase of 0.2% - 0.4% in all districts and across Cyprus.

In particular, the positivity rate in Limassol is 1% from 0.8% in the previous week, in Larnaca 0.9% from 0.6%, in Nicosia 0.8% from 0.5%, in Pafos 0.7% from 0.4%, in Famagusta 0.7% from 0.3% and across Cyprus it is 0.9% from 0.6%.
 
At the same time, the positivity rate in homes for the elderly is slightly up from 0.2% to 0.3%.
 
According to the Ministry of Health “we are clearly experiencing a period of increased transmission with the R rate estimated to be at 1.16 (1.12 – 1.21).”
 
In the last 14 days 61,761 PCR tests were carried out (6,955 per 100,000 population) and 637,220 rapid antigen tests (71,769 per 100,000).
 
Limassol is the district with the greatest percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 (37%). Until April 6, Limassol has the greatest mortality rate per 100,000 population in (36.2 deaths per 100,000 population).

Until April 6, 47,632 COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in Cyprus with 268 deaths attributed to the disease (Case Fatality Risk 0.6%). At the same time, 82.6% (39,061) of people who contracted the disease have recovered.

According to a report on the deaths recorded in Cyprus, most of them took place in December 2020 and January 2021 with the number of deaths during those two months reaching 52% of total deaths, 85 and 86 respectively.

In 2021, the percentage of deaths attributed to COVID-19 of people aged between 70 and 79 was up by 75% compared to 2020, while the percentage of deaths of people aged 80 and over fell by by 16%.