Malta’s Covid-19 reproduction rate – also referred to as the r-factor – now stands at 1.25, statistician Vincent Marmara told The Malta Independent on Sunday in his weekly video blog.

The reproduction number of the virus is one of the key figures which countries across the world have been trying to reduce ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The aim for countries has been to reduce the ratio to a level of 1 – which would mean that one person would transmit the virus to one other person.

Marmara noted that the number of cases registered over the past week was on similar levels to the week before. From the number of tests carried out, 5.2% resulted positive. This was similar to the last 3 weeks.

Deaths have increased again, with 16 people passing away over the past seven days. The levels seen this week are similar to numbers experienced in previous months.

This week saw the highest number of recoveries. There were slightly more recoveries than new cases. In fact, the number of recoveries was 102% of new cases.

When putting all this data together, the r-factor is currently 1.25, Marmara said.

Giving an overview of the situation in other European countries, Marmara noted that cases in the UK have continued dropping after the introduction of severe restrictive mesures.

In Spain, cases continued to increase, while the numbers have remained stable for several weeks in France. Italy saw numbers remain stable over the past two weeks, while in Germany the number of new cases continued to decrease.

Marmara said it is important that decisions are taken to prohibit mass activities, but people must also be responsible and avoid social gatherings.

“We saw that social activities have contributed significantly to the spread over past few weeks so decisions taken by the authorities are important to stop the spread, but each and every one of us must also act responsibly.”