Student, football player among eight new cases

Eight new coronavirus cases were detected on Friday, including a student of a Limassol secondary school and a player for the local first division team AC Omonia who had participated in the team’s Champions League qualifying match against Olympiacos in Greece on Wednesday, before testing positive upon his return to the island.

The new cases were detected after 2,615 samples were conducted, raising total known cases in the Republic of Cyprus to 1,671.

One of Friday’s new cases involved a student at a secondary school in Limassol, who developed symptoms earlier this week and was referred for testing at a public health clinic by her GP.

Two more were arrivals detected at Cyprus airports. One of the positive cases is a football player for Omonia. The case emerged after the whole team and staff were tested upon arrival at the airport from Greece on Thursday, though the rest of the team’s mission abroad tested negative.

The second airport arrival who tested positive is a man of Indian nationality who flew into Larnaca airport from Birmingham on Wednesday.

Another new case involved a person who developed symptoms last week and got checked for the virus at a general hospital.

Four more were people who took the initiative to get tested. Three took the test after developing symptoms. The fourth case is a person who flew into Cyprus from Moldavia on September 12 and got checked two days prior to completing their two-week quarantine period, as required by health protocols, with the test coming back positive.

The Famagusta general hospital is currently treating 14 coronavirus patients, one of which is receiving treatment in the ICU.