Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci has said that the measures which authorities have implemented last week are working, as the seven day average of cases in the country has taken a downward trend.

Authorities said on Friday that 32 new cases of Covid-19 were found overnight, while 65 recoveries were registered, meaning that the number of active cases of the virus has dropped to 624.

Gauci observed during her briefing that after some days with a high number of cases, the number of new cases per day has now levelled out at between 30 and 40 cases.

She noted that the seven-day moving average for the number of cases is decreasing when compared with the peak period a couple of weeks ago.

Giving details about the people receiving treatment in hospital, Gauci said that there are currently three patients who are in Mater Dei Hospital's Intensive Therapy Unit. There are another five in the hospital's Infectious Diseases Unit, while there are 14 people at Boffa Hospital and another 14 at St. Thomas Hospital.

22 patients are currently in Mount Carmel Hospital where, Gauci reminded, there is a cluster of cases which spread. 

Giving details about the clusters of cases found in the past week, noting that the biggest cluster increase was in families - with 60 new cases over the week being family members related to positive cases of the virus.  They join 83 cases of family clusters which had already been traced.

The number of cases related to workplaces doubled over the past week from 26 to 52 cases, with Gauci here reminding of what the mitigation measures on the workplace should be to avoid the spread of Covid-19. She said that in the case of offices, desks should be adequately separated from each other, masks should be used when dealing with public persons, unnecessary contact with other people should be avoided, and sanitiser should be made available and used throughout the workplace.

Gauci said that the impact of the measures taken last week - which closed nightclubs and bars and banned mass events completely - were starting to be seen, and noted that it is important to keep following the measures put in place.

She noted that 99 random swab tests have been done at the airport for people arriving from amber countries - a list which will grow to five countries as of today - out of which, three people tested positive.  These positive cases were found on Monday 24 August and Tuesday 25 August.

Gauci also announced an amendment to legal restrictions on events which are still permitted, such as weddings, saying that as of today, these events must take place sitting down - with standing not permitted.

Malta has had 1,820 cases of Covid-19, with 1,186 of those having recovered and 10 passing away.

Asked on where Malta ranks in the testing for COVID-19, Gauci said that “when you look at the situation not only globally but also from a European perspective, the ECDC looks at the situation in several ways.” 

She explained that “the positivity rate of European countries registered by ECDC is highest in Spain (7.8), whilst the positivity rate in Malta is much lower (1.78).” 

Answering a question, Gauci remarked that “there were no Coronavirus patients in Malta who contracted the virus twice.” 

The MAM today called for more restrictions as Malta experiences a second highest rate in the last 14 days. Asked on whether the health authorities are considering introducing more measures such as swabbing all passengers (both Maltese and foreign) coming from every destination to Malta, Gauci said that “we are not excluding any of the measures as long as its main purpose is to keep everyone as safe as possible.” 

She added that “currently we are experiencing a situation in which we must always aim to improve and do better with the measures being taken. With the way the restrictions were introduced last week, we are seeing a change, however, this will highly depend on the cooperation of the public.” 

“It is important that we continue working together in order to reduce transmission.” 

With regards to the immigrants that were brought in last week, Gauci gave an update and said that “two positive cases were identified; thus, they are all kept in quarantine in order to test them again.” 

“The other immigrants are being constantly monitored in order to ensure that they recover successfully and do not risk further transmission.” 

With regards to the opening of schools in September, Gauci remarked that “schools are needed as students need their education. We need to work together in order to decrease the rate of active cases as this will be beneficial when schools open.” 

It has been recommended that masks will also have to be worn by educators and students within school corridors or toilets but not within classrooms. In addition, it was also recommended by the WHO that students aged three or under are not to make use of masks, but students aged 11 onwards should wear it. 

Answering a question on school transportation and how they will go about on making this work, Gauci explained that “it will be beneficial if we manage to keep students in bubbles, always in the same group, as much as possible as it will decrease transmission between larger groups of students.”

Discussions are currently underway with the Ministry of Education in order to provide them guidelines which are drawn up by the health authorities. These include basic principles such as social distancing, keeping the same group of children together as much as possible, as well as basic hygiene protocols.” 

Gauci said that next Monday “the health authorities as well as the Ministry of Education will be consulting with the World Health Organisation on this situation to gather as much as information and guidelines on how to manage the situation safely.” 

On the situation with sports in Malta, “the Malta Football Association gave us a number of guidelines on how sports can take place, and we are currently evaluating their proposals, basing them on the basic principles and on the advice given by ECDC,” she said.