Nine new local Coronavirus cases have been found in the last 24 hours, health authorities said on Thursday. 

Four of the cases are from a cluster which can be traced back to the Santa Venera village feast. 

The rest are all sporadic cases, the authorities said.

1,722 swab tests were carried out in the past 24 hours - a return to significantly high numbers - meaning that the total number of swabs now stands at 125,685.

Authorities said that almost all of today's cases are under 35 years of age.

Today's nine local cases join another 19 migrants who were found to be positive for the virus on Thursday.  

Authorities gave the figure of active cases as 55, although when factoring in the 85 migrants who have tested positive for the virus over the past days, the overall number of active cases stands at 140.

The total number of cases of Covid-19 given by authorities is of 729 - which becomes 814 when the 85 migrants are added to the equation. With no new recoveries reported, the number of people who have recovered from the virus remains 665.  Nine people with the virus have passed away.