Health authorities have reported 9 new cases of Covid-19, the lowest since 30 July.

The number was initially announced by Health Minister Chris Fearne while he was addressing a press conference where the government unveiled its relaxation timeline for the Covid-19 measures which remain, with this culminating for now with the reopening of bars on 7 June.

The tally of 9 cases is the first time that the daily case numbers will have dropped into single digits since 30 July last year.

29 recoveries were registered, while nobody passed away as a result of the virus in the past 24 hours - meaning that the number of active cases has now decreased to 260.

1,971 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of swab tests up to 878,041 so far.

Meanwhile, 359,429 doses of the vaccine were administered up until the end of Wednesday - meaning that health staff administered a record 7,008 doses in one day.

112,731 people have received both doses of the vaccine.

The number of people in hospital has also continued to decrease, Fearne said on Thursday

Five people are currently receiving treatment in Mater Dei’s intensive care unit: two of them are positive for Covid-19, while the other three have since tested negative, but are still receiving treatment for the effects of the virus.

Malta has had 30,420 cases of the virus. 29,744 of those have recovered, while 416 have died.