The Coronavirus reproduction rate in Malta has decreased further to 0.25, statistician Vincent Marmara said.

In his weekly blog for The Malta Independent on Sunday, Marmara said that the rate of vaccines being administered is a very positive one which is leading to a very low R-factor.

When looking at the number of daily cases being reported, Marmara said that the past week has been very similar when compared to the week before regarding the number of positive Covid-19 cases reported. This number has remained at a low level.

He also noted that when looking at the data week by week, the number of positive Covid-19 cases reported remained low, similar to the week before.

This positive trend was also noted in testing as only 0.2% of swab tests done during the past week resulted in new positive cases.

With regard to the number of deaths reported, Marmara said that in the past week two people died due to Covid-19.

He noted that the number of people who are recovering from the virus is also decreasing since the number of active cases being reported is also substantially decreasing every day, this will automatically reflect in a decrease in recoveries. In fact, Malta is once again experiencing more patients who are recovering from the virus when compared to the new cases of Covid-19 being registered.

“We currently have fewer than 70 people who are positive with Covid-19,” Marmara said.

Marmara also highlighted that the rate of vaccines being given continues at a fast and impressive rate. More than 500,000 jabs have been given and at least 200,000 people have taken the two doses of the vaccine.

He said that 40% of the Maltese population have been given two doses of the vaccine, whilst around 60% of the population have thus far been given the first vaccine shot.

When looking at other European countries, statistics show that France is experiencing a similar situation to Malta and Italy, Spain and Germany are also experiencing a decrease in Covid-19 cases. Despite a slight increase in cases in the UK, the country still has relatively low numbers when compared to the last peak the country experienced.

Marmara said that despite these positive results, extensive research continues on a number of factors including the impact of the Covid-19 vaccine, the impact of the different variants, and the different Covid-19 restrictive measures, among many others. There are still many unknowns which are present with this virus, therefore research is crucial in order to understand the situation as best as one can.

The changes through the entire pandemic are also being considered and researched.