Parikiaki can confirm, that as of Wednesday 20th May 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 300 UK Cypriots have died from coronavirus, many have contracted the disease, and several are in hospital.

Three UK Cypriots have died from coronavirus in the last week – that’s the same as last week – all three from outside London.

In London, no UK Cypriot fatalities were recorded. Outside London, three lost their lives; two Greek Cypriots – one in Manchester and one in Middlesbrough, and a Turkish Cypriot in Northampton.

In total, we estimate 310 UK Cypriots in total have died from Coronavirus.

The total fatalities now include 180 UK Greek Cypriots, 95 UK Turkish Cypriots and one UK Maronite Cypriot, all from London. Included in the UK Greek Cypriots are three married couples and two brothers. A total of 273 UK Cypriot deaths have been recorded in London.

Outside London, there were nine UK Greek Cypriots and one UK Turkish Cypriot from Birmingham, three UK Greek Cypriots from Weston-super-Mare, who were all from the same family, one from Derby, one from Lowestoft, one from Cambridge, one from Cheltenham, three UK Greek Cypriots and one UK Maronite Cypriot from Liverpool, one UK Greek Cypriot from Luton, one from Southend, one from Glasgow, one from Newport, one from Leeds, one from Hemel Hempstead, one from Manchester one from Middlesborough, one from Margate and one from Wakefield. Four UK Turkish Cypriots, one each from Colchester, Maidstone, Northampton and Suffolk, also passed away, bringing the total number of UK Cypriot deaths outside London to 35.

The Cypriot community now accounts for almost 4.5 percent of all Covid-19 related deaths in the capital. We have dropped 2.5 percent from 7 per cent in four weeks; we are moving in the right direction but there is still a long way to go.

In the UK we UK Cypriots only make up less than 0.5 per cent of the total population, and we account for just under one per cent of all UK coronavirus deaths.

It appears most of the deaths were the result of contact prior to the lockdown at events attracting large crowds – weddings, funerals, religious services and national events such as football matches.

Having since followed Government advice on self-isolation and social distancing, this has led to a big drop in fatalities, it now seems that outside London there is an increased problem with covid19..

Cyprus, which has a population of a million, has recorded 21 deaths.17 Greek Cypriots and four Turkish Cypriots.

Global coronavirus cases approach just over 5 million, 1.9 million have recovered and the death toll nears 325,000.

The US has more than 92,258 deaths and the UK more than 35,341. 21 people have died in Cyprus and 166 in Greece. In Italy, 32,169 have lost their lives to the virus, and in Spain 27,778. China has recorded 4,634 deaths, France 28,022 and Turkey 4,199.