COVID-19 infections in Cyprus more than doubled in a month, says Health Ministry

COVID-19 infections more than doubled in Cyprus last week compared with the previous week, reflecting a low vaccination rate among young people, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The highest rate of infections was recorded in the six to 11 age group, which represented 14 per cent of the total, while the next age group of 12 to 17 represented over 10 per cent of total infections.

These two groups have the lowest rate of vaccination, amounting to just 30 per cent, compared to a rate of over 83 per cent among all people eligible for vaccination in the country.

The ministry said the increase in the last four weeks has affected almost all age groups, except the 75 to 79 age group, which has the highest vaccination rate among the population.

In a population of less than one million, 3,306 infections were recorded in the week of November 27 to December 3, an increase of 111 per cent compared with the week of November 6 to November 12, the ministry said.

The infection rate is on the increase, with new coronavirus cases on December 6 alone standing at 706, compared with just 176 cases on November 6, 2021.

In a bid to contain the spread of the virus among these age groups, as of Monday, the Health Ministry introduced a weekly coronavirus test for all school children. It also made the wearing of a mask mandatory in all school areas, and appealed to parents to consent to the vaccination of their children.

Due to spiralling infections, and the spread of the more infectious Omicron variant to several countries, people have been queuing outside vaccination centres to get the jab.

The Health Ministry said that nearly 10,000 people, representing about one per cent of the population, were vaccinated on Monday.

(ANI/Xinhua)