What happened this past week with regard to Covid-19 was similar to the previous week, statistician Vincent Marmara said.

In his weekly blog for The Malta Independent on Sunday, Marmara said that the number of cases registered this past week was slightly less than that of the week before.

Of the number of swab tests carried out, 2.6 per cent turned out to be positive, which is again similar to the result of the previous week.

The number of deaths registered in the past week was significantly lower than that of the week before, Marmara said.

There were more people who recovered from the virus than new cases of Covid-19.

This is all a result of decisions that were taken by the health authorities, which have led to a positive effect on the way Covid-19 is being tackled in Malta.

One must also point out that the number of active cases is much lower than the number we had just one month ago. The R-factor is now well below one, and at present stands at 0.52, which practically means that it takes two people to infect one other.

The vaccination campaign is moving at a steady pace, Marmara added, and Malta is doing much better when compared to other European countries. More than 13% of the population have been given two doses of the vaccine, while 33% of the population have been given one dose.

Speaking about the situation in other countries, Marmara said that while the number of cases in France, Germany and Spain continue to climb, those in the UK continue to drop. The number of cases in Italy dipped slightly.

He said that we should continue to follow instructions given by the health authorities.