185 new cases of Covid-19 were found overnight and another three patients have died, the health authorities said on Friday.

More details about today’s cases were given by Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci in her weekly briefing.

The patients who died were: an 85-year-old man who died at Mater Dei Hospital, an 88-year-old man who died at the Good Samaritan facility and a 97-year-old woman who died at St Vincent de Paule.

264 patients have died so far.

There are currently 2,695 active cases, bringing the total up to 17,585.

174 people have recovered, for a total of 14,626 recoveries.

3,280 swab tests were performed over the past 24 hours, for a total of 606,306 since the start of the pandemic. 

Until Thursday, 24,680 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had been administered, of which 2,518 were second doses.

Gauci said there are 162 positive patients who are receiving care in hospital.

At Mater Dei, there 16 patients in ITU, 6 in the Infectious Diseases Unit and 44 in other wards.

There are 10 patients at Boffa, 9 at St Thomas Hospital, 13 at Karin Grech, 43 at the Good Samaritan facility, 10 at Mount Carmel and 11 at the Gozo General Hospital.

The peak experienced over Christmas has not yet stabilised, she said, and the moving average is 160 cases per day.

There are currently 7 homes for the elderly with active cases but the numbers are low. The maximum number of cases per home does not exceed 5 cases, which shows that the situation is being controlled, she said.

416 cases are related to household clusters. Social gatherings are also contributing to a high number of cases, as are workplaces.

There have also been several cases related to sports activities, particularly high-intensity sports.

When it comes to deaths, the deceased were predominantly males in the 75 to 84 age bracket.

The vaccination programme for healthcare workers and elderly people is progressing, Gauci said. She said that cancer patients are also being given the vaccine before they start their chemotherapy.

Preparations are underway for the second cohort to start receiving the vaccine, which includes people aged between 80 and 84.

The second cohort also includes certain front liners such as soldiers and firemen, as well as homebound persons.

Gauci again appealed to the public to take the vaccine, which has been rigorously tested and deemed safe by European authorities. She stressed that people need to abide by the appointment dates given in the letters they are receiving.

“The vaccination process is going as planned,” Gauci said. “We are also doing well in the homes for the elderly, till February we will have finished the vaccination process in these homes.”

“We are entering the second cohort. Letters are already being sent for those of 80 to 84 years. I appeal to them to come when it is their time to get inoculated, as if we don’t follow the time it costs the frontliners.”

Asked on what happens when one tests positive after taking the first jab of the vaccine, Gauci assured that this happened abroad as well so it is not something new for the Health Authorities to deal with.

“In that case, the probability is that the person would have been exposed to the virus before they took the vaccine. We have to remember that the incubation period can last up to 14 days. After 4 weeks, we would be able to give him the second dose.”

Professor Gauci was asked whether Malta will do the same as Germany has hinted with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, where they said there is not enough data to see that it is okay to use for over 65 year-olds.

“The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and AstraZeneca are meeting up to discuss the results. We will be following what the EMA said and we will update our position accordingly,” she said.

Asked by The Malta Independent regarding reports which were received of overcrowding at vaccination centres and whethe cines agencyr it is causing logistical problems, Gauci appealed for people to follow the exact times of the appointment so as not to cause chaos.

“Like any appointment, it is important to stick to the time we gave you. Now it is even more important to do so because we are in the situation where we don’t want a lot of people gathered together.”

“We need to keep people in the clinic for 15 minutes after to see that there are no side effects. So it is important to stick to the time so we would not have any problems.”

If one is sick, he should phone the Health Authorities to tell them that he cannot make it to the appointment. She also noted that there are certain local councils that are offering services of transport for those elderly who need to get vaccinated. 

This newsroom also asked about Novavax’s vaccine, which recently published very good results of 89% immunity to Covid-19, close to those we saw with Moderna and Pfizer.

“These will be evaluated by the European Medicines Agency, but there are still some months until it will get approved from all its trials. But we welcome such progressions, as the more the vaccines, the faster we vaccinate people.”