COVID-19 fatality rate at 2.2% in Cyprus

The COVID-19 fatality rate was at April 21 at 2.2% in Cyprus, epidemiological data released today have shown, while out of 157 of people who received hospital care 78.3% were released.

The data, which are based on laboratory-confirmed cases notified to the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health, were presented on Thursday during a press conference at the Ministry of Health by professor Georgios Nicolopoulos.

According to the data, as of April 21st, 784 laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported.

The median time between symptoms onset and date of sampling was 4 days (IQR: 2-7days).

"It should be noted that for 12 cases the date of sample collection was before the onset of symptoms because of immediate testing of contacts of possible and laboratory-confirmed cases,” he said.

On April 21st, the 14-day cumulative incidence rate of COVID-19, a measure which reflects the number of active COVID-19 cases in the population (prevalence)1, is 29.7per 100,000 population.

Among these cases, 49.5% are male and 50.5% female.

The median age of cases is 47years (interquartile range: 33-60years).

By age groups, cases included 47infants, children and adolescents aged 0-17years-old (6.1%), 527adults aged 18-59 years (67.8%), and 203 persons aged 60 years and older (26.1%).

The age of seven notified cases has not been recorded at the moment, he explained.

Among all cases, 290 (37.0%) were reported in Nicosia district, 209 (26.7%) in Larnaka, 146 (18.6%) in Pafos, 83 (10.6%) in Limassol, 40 (5.1%) in Famagusta, and 17 (2.0%) were reported either in the British bases, had a residence abroad, or information was not available.

Notably, 119 cases (15.2%) were reported in Aradippou, a municipality in Larnaka district, including a cluster in a local bakery production line and are mainly males (58%; n = 69) and the median age is 49 years.

If the cluster is excluded, cases are mainly female (55%; n = 50) and the median age is 55 years.

Among the 784 cases, 22.5% are health-care workers2(n = 177), of whom 4.8% physicians (n = 38), 11.1% nurses (n = 87), 1.5% other health occupations (n = 12), and 5.1% auxiliary staff (n = 40).

In total, 17% (n =110) of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-cases had history of travel or residence abroad during the 14 days prior to symptom onset and are therefore considered imported cases.

These cases have a direct link to the UK and Greece, mainly.

Locally acquired infections (index cases and close-contacts of confirmed cases) occurred in 83% of the cases, of which 10.3% were related to a health-care facility (General Hospital in Pafos).

Of all cases in Aradippou,77 (64.7%) were locally-acquired,10 (8.4%) imported and for 32cases (26.9%) the epidemiological link was not recorded at the moment.

According to the data, of the 784 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-cases, clinical information is available for 95.9% or 752, of which 28.1% reported no symptoms at diagnosis and 71.9% reported at least one symptom.

The most commonly reported symptomswere: cough (283/726; 39.0%), fever (250/737; 33.9%), myalgia (182/734; 24.8%), sore throat (140/733; 19.1%), anosmia (101/591; 17.1%), and shortness of breath (102/705; 14.5%).

Other reported symptoms were diarrhea, runny nose, and headache.

Information on pre-existing conditions was available for 656 (83.7%) cases. Of these, 284 (43.3%) reported at least one.

The most commonly reported comorbidities were hypertension (115/637; 18.1%), diabetes (63/639; 9.9%), heart disease (57/633; 9.0%), and cancer (15/387; 3.9%).

Other reported conditions were chronic kidney disease, autoimmune disease and chronic respiratory disease.

As of April 21st, 17deaths were reported in Cyprus (Case Fatality Rate-CFR: 2.2%).

The mortality rate for COVID-19 is 1.9 per 100,000 population.

Thirteen deaths (76.5%) occurred in men and four (23.5%) in women; the median age of all deaths was 76 years.

Six deaths were reported among residents in Larnaka, five in Pafos, and 2 in Nicosia, Limassol and Famagusta respectively.

The median time from date of sampling to death was 6 days.

For 12 deaths, COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death (COVID-19 CFR: 1.5%).

In total, 20% (n = 157) of patients received hospital care, and 123 patients (78.3%) have been discharged alive from the hospital.

When age was available (n = 155), the median age of hospitalized patients was 63years. Hospitalized cases were mainly males or 66.9% of the total.

Overall, 30 cases (19.1% of all hospitalized patients) have been admitted to ICU, of which 14 (8.9% of all hospitalized patients) were still in ICU (as of April21st).

A total of 25 ICU patients (83.3% of all ICU patients) have been intubated, of whom 10 are still intubated.

Overall median length of stay in ICU for all 30 of those cases, considering those still in ICU until 21stApril was 10days.

In patients who died while in ICU (n = 10), the median length of stay in ICU was 8 days.

For patients transferred/discharged from ICU (n = 6), the median length of stay in ICU was 7.5 days.

The median age of patients ever admitted to ICU was 68 years.

ICU patients are mainly male (n = 22; 73.3%). The number of cases currently in ICU is 1.6per 100,000 population.