The fifth swabbing centre in the country has opened in Qormi, with Health Minister Chris Fearne visiting it on Thursday.

The centre is operating out of St. Thomas Hospital in Qormi, and is added onto the centres in Luqa, Pembroke, Mater Dei Hospital, and Gozo so that the demand for swab tests can be met and more swab tests can be carried out daily.

Malta today hit 150,000 swab tests from when the Covid-19 pandemic began last March, the Ministry said, before also noting that a record number of 2,485 swab tests was registered in the last 24 hours. 

“From the beginning of the pandemic, we started doing a number of swab tests, which is crucial for positive cases to be found.  With this strategy, positive cases can be caught and isolated as early as possible.  After, through contact tracing, the people who had contact with them are placed in quarantine so that the spread of the pandemic can be restricted”, Fearne said. 

He thanked the leadership of St. Thomas Hospital who joined the public health sector so to offer the best possible service to the Maltese people.  He also thanked all workers in the public centre, especially those in swabbing centres and labs.