The health ministry announced one death and 677 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday.

An 87-year-old man with underlying conditions who had received the first dose of the vaccine died at Paphos hospital.

The total death toll is 284, of whom 187 were men and 97 women with an average age of 78.

There are 270 people in hospitals, 63 of whom are in serious condition. Of the 63 patients who are critical, 31 are intubated, six are in ICU and 26 in the High Dependency Unit.

A total of 69,068 tests, a new record, were carried out by means of PCR and rapid tests with 677 new cases, and a positivity rate of 0.98 per cent.

The total number of positives to date is 54,621.

Of the 69,068 tests, 4,956 were PCR and 64,112 rapid tests.

The majority, 388 of the 677 positives came from 64,112 samples taken through rapid testing, while 1,052 samples taken through contact tracing yielded 120 positives, and 2,329 samples taken trough private initiative 130.

Thirty-eight samples taken through GP referrals yielded no positives, while 17 cases came from 394 samples processed by hospital labs.

In addition, 1,143 samples were taken at airports with two positives.

Nicosia saw 138 cases, there were 101 in Limassol, 59 in Larnaca, 20 in Paphos and 18 in Famagusta.