The Coronavirus reproduction rate in Malta now stands below 0.2, statistician Vincent Marmara said.

In his weekly blog for The Malta Independent on Sunday, Marmara said that the past week has been extremely positive as a low number of Covid-19 cases were reported, with Malta currently experiencing the end of the Covid-19 cycle. 

When looking at the data week by week, Marmara noted that the number of Covid-19 cases reported was the lowest since the start of the pandemic. 

A positive trend was also noted in testing as only 0.1% of swab tests done during the past week resulted in new positive cases. He also said that this percentage is the lowest it has ever been since the start of the pandemic.

With regard to the number of deaths reported, Marmara said that in the past week one person died due to Covid-19.

The number of people who are recovering from the virus slightly increased, resulting to just around 30 active cases. When comparing the number of patients who are recovering from the virus with the number of new cases of Covid-19 being reported, Marmara said that Malta is once again experiencing more patients who are recovering.

In addition, with regard to the rate of Covid-19 vaccines being given, this continues to persevere at a fast and positive rate, as around 56% of the entire population were given the two doses of the vaccine, whilst around 70% of the population were at least given the first vaccine shot.

Marmara clarified that when he says ‘population’ he is referring to everyone, irrespective of age.

When looking at other countries, statistics show that France, Germany, Spain and Italy continued to experience a decrease in the rate of positive Covid-19 cases. However, the situation in the UK differed slightly as they continued to see a slight increase in positive cases.

Although there still is the possibility that the number of positive Covid-19 cases will increase, the vaccine against the virus is a very positive measure. If a person takes the vaccine and still contracts the virus, that person will at least experience minor symptoms or none at all, Marmara said.

He added that despite these positive results, one still needs to be cautious, but it seems that people are now adapting and learning how to live with this new infection.