Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said that one new Coronavirus case was registered yesterday, while nine patients have recovered. The number of swab tests carried out on Sunday was 803, for a total of 61,615.
The number of cases registered is now 611, with six deaths. The number of active cases is 120, while 485 have recovered.
Gauci said that the people who have recovered - 16 in all since Friday - are in the following age groups: two aged below 10; three in their 20s, five in their 30s,, and two each in their 40s, 50s and 80s.
Of the 11 new cases regisetered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Gauci said that four had no symptoms - a 29-year-old woman who works in a private company, a 24-year-old woman who is a health care worker with a private hospital, a 23-year-old worker in one of the testing hubs (reported on Saturday) and a 34-year-old Algerian man who tried the test before starting a new job.
Four others had links to other cases - two men aged 51 and 25 who had contact with another patient who works with the same company; a 43-year-old worker at Karen Grech Hospital (not a health care worker) and a 63-year-old woman who is a patient at the same hospital.
The remaining three experienced varied symptoms - a 19-year-old pharmacist, a 38-year-old self-employed and a 64-year-old man.
Gauci said that at present there are 11 patients at Boffa Hospital, seven at St Thomas Hospital and four at Mater Dei Hospital.
Asked regarding the situation of visitors at elderly homes, Gauci remarked that “perspex sheets have been installed within the homes in order to protect the people as much as possible.” She said that such a situation is difficult to replicate in hospitals.
Gauci said that “if the situation in our country remains good and stable, we will have the possibility to move forward with our strategic plan which was put together through scientific risk assessment.” This includes the opening of skolasajf and childcare centres.
She added “we are discussing and looking into the mitigation measures that can be put in place in order to reduce transmission of the virus.”
“We have to understand that young children are harder to control than adults, but this is taken into consideration when looking into the mitigation meaures,” Gauci said.
Asked about tattoo parlours and why they haven’t opened, Gauci said that “we are currently going through the same process of evaluating the situation, just as we are doing with childcare centres and Skolasajf in order to ensure the safety of the public.”
Gauci said that “one can notice several different situations as you’d have groups that will cooperate but others who won’t. Thus, it is still very important that people abide by all the measures put in place by the health authorities in order to keep everyone safe, and to keep the situation as stable as possible.”
Regarding the R-factor Gauci said that “at this stage it has returned to around one.”
Asked about one of the protocols listed in the guidelines given to restaurants regarding people being prohibited to smoke outside, Gauci said “that one should not smoke outside next to people who are eating as 80% of our population do not smoke, thus we need to respect one another.”
The reason why a total of 803 swab test in the past 24 hours were carried out – which is almost half the number compared to other days, Gauci said that “the health authorities have seen a trend in which people refrain from testing on Sundays.”