Five more deaths attributed to Covid-19 were announced by the health ministry on Tuesday, in addition to 3,695 new positive cases.

The latest fatalities were all women – aged 78, died last Friday; aged 87, died on Monday; and aged 84, 85 and 86, who passed away on Tuesday.

That brings the death toll to 883 since March 2020.

Meanwhile hospitals were treating 120 people, of whom 23 were said to be in a serious condition. Of the serious cases, one was in ICU but not on a ventilator, nine intubated, and 13 in high-dependency units.

In addition, 20 post-Covid patients continued to be intubated in ICU.

The health ministry reported that 53.34 per cent of those in hospital did not have a vaccination record.

The day’s 133,874 tests found 3,695 new coronavirus cases – a positivity rate of 2.76 per cent.

Contact tracing tracked 93 positives from 905 samples, while tests through private initiative found 2,484 positives from 72,087samples.

The health ministry’s programmes detected 1,134 positives from 59,313 rapid tests.

In public education, the positivity rate in elementary schools was 0.56 per cent, and 0.89 per cent in high schools.

A total of 2,092 rapid tests at nursing homes came up with 25 positives.

In the north, authorities announced one death and 520 new positives.

To date, 201 people there have died of Covid-19.