North records first coronavirus death

An infected elderly tourist who was hospitalized in a Turkish Cypriot hospital has died, marking the first coronavirus death in the northern part of the divided island.

Turkish Cypriot media reported on Saturday that a 67-year-old male tourist from Germany died in a north Nicosia hospital after being infected with the Covid-19 disease.

The tourist, who was in a group of 31 German visitors on the island, was initially quarantined in early March after a 65-year-old woman in the same group was the first person to have tested positive in the north.

While 29 of the 31 visitors were released from quarantine and flew out of Cyprus, two had remained hospitalized after their health had deteriorated. One German visitor remains hospitalized in the north according to media reports.

In the south, five people have died after being infected with the coronavirus, with two of them, a 47-year-old Greek national and a 58-year-old Cypriot citizen, said to have been healthy men before contracting the infectious disease. Three others, two British elderly males and a Cypriot elderly woman were said to have medical issues in addition to the virus infection.

There have been over 200 known confirmed cases on the divided island, with 158 in the south, 4 on British Bases, and 61 in the north.

Health officials have confirmed that Cyprus was now facing endemic conditions, which means infections are no longer only imported from overseas or through contacts with people who traveled abroad.

There are restrictions of movement in both communities, while a number of villages on the Karpas peninsula are under strict isolation measures. A bus driver, who was involved in trasporting the German tourists to their quarantine location, also tested positive in the north.