Parikiaki can confirm, that as of Wednesday 22nd April 2020, after having contacted local hospitals, churches, the Turkish Cypriot media and community, funeral directors and from death announcements placed in our newspaper, that over 236 UK Cypriots have died from coronavirus, many have contracted the disease, and several are in hospital. Thirty six UK Cypriots have died in the last week .

The fatalities include 140 UK Greek Cypriots, 80 UK Turkish Cypriots and one UK Maronite Cypriot, all from London. Included in the UK Greek Cypriots were a married couple.

Outside London, there were UK Cypriots five from Birmingham, three from Weston-super-Mare who were all from the same family, one from Derby, one from Lowestoft, one from Cambridge, one from Cheltenham, one from Liverpool, one from Luton and one from Southend in all one more than last week.

We as a community are still very concerned that there is “emerging evidence” to suggest coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on UK Cypriots. We account for almost 5.5 percent of all Covid-19 related deaths in the capital. We have dropped 1.5 percent from 7per cent in two weeks, we are moving in the right direction but still a long way to go and we should still be very concerned.

Cyprus, which has a population of a million, has recorded only 16 deaths.

Global coronavirus cases approach 2,580,729, 693,093 have recovered and the death toll nears 178,371.

The US has more than 45,473 deaths and the UK more than 17,337. 16 people have died in Cyprus and 121 in Greece. In Italy, 24,648 have lost their lives to the virus, and in Spain 21,717. China has recorded 4,632 deaths, France 20,796 and Turkey2,259.