The health ministry announced two deaths and 622 new cases of Covid–19 on Thursday after performing 47,547 PCR and rapid tests, a positivity rate of 1.31 per cent.

The deaths concerned a woman aged 91 with underlying conditions who was vaccinated, who died at Paphos hospital, and a woman aged 44 with underlying conditions who was unvaccinated and died at Limassol hospital. The total deaths stand at 268.

There are 207 people in hospitals of whom 52 are in serious condition. Of these, 31 are intubated.

Of the 47,547 tests on Thursday, 3,752 were PCR and 43,795 rapid tests resulting in 622 positives as follows:

  • 126 from 731 samples taken through contact tracing of already confirmed cases.
  • 2 from 847 samples taken as part of a passenger checks
  • 114 from 1,614 samples taken through private initiative.
  • 15 from 431 samples tested at hospital labs
  • 1 from 129 samples tested after GP referrals
  • 30 from 760 samples tested by rapid tests in private clinical laboratories and pharmacies.
  • 334 from 43,035 samples taken as part of the ministry’s free testing programme

From the latter, Nicosia had 123 positives, Limassol 95, Larnaca 57, Paphos 19, Famagusta 14. There were three cases in care homes and 19 in schools.