NICOASIA – Adding to Cyprus' worries about tourists avoiding the island that reopened to them after a lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19, there were five more cases reported on July 23, a day after there had been none.

The new cases included an arrival from Israel, a Canadian living in Cyprus who has returned from Iraq via Dubai, and three not from tourists or travelers, a concerning trend for health officials, said The Financial Mirror.

The cases were detected among 1,575 tests carried out although the traveler from Israel came with a special permit from authorities there indicating he had tested negative for the virus two days earlier, repeating the test at a private lab which also proved positive.

The case was traced after 418 tests were carried out at private laboratories, the news site said, adding that the Canadian who came from Iraq via Dubai had also presented a negative antibody test which wasn't accepted and was tested at the airport.

She proved positive, the only one among 738 people returning to Cyprus and international arrivals, with health officials said to be more alarmed about the local transmission cases that brought the total to 1,045, with 19 deaths.

That still is among the best records in the world, which had the government hoping that travelers would come to inject cash into a hurting economy but with reports that resorts are essentially empty and tourism fell 98 percent in June.

No positive cases were detected from 152 lab tests on employees who went back to work during phase two and three of easing restrictive measures, or 93 tests carried out by the Microbiological Labs of general hospitals, the news report also said.