Malta’s Covid-19 reproduction rate – also known as the r-factor – has remained low at 0.26, statistician Vince Marmara said in his weekly video blog for The Malta Independent on Sunday.

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 new daily cases has remained stable over the past few weeks, although there was a slight but ‘insignificant’ increase over the past seven days.

There were no Covid-related deaths, and the number of positive cases when compared to the number of tests carried out was 0.2%.

Twenty-five people recovered, which was slightly less than last week, but this reflects the decrease in active cases, he said.

The vaccination rate has continued to increase. Over 45% of the entire population has been fully vaccinated, and at least 63% has received the first dose.

This means that the r-factor is 0.26, which is similar to the past few weeks.

Taking a look at other European countries, Marmara noted that cases in France, Germany, Italy and Spain dipped slightly.

The UK, on the other hand, has experienced a slight increase and it remains to be seen whether the numbers will rise further or whether the situation will be controlled.

He also noted that Malta has registered its first case of the Indian variant, noting that one still needs to examine this case and see what its effect will be. “This is a pandemic with a lot of unknowns”, Marmara said.

In the meantime, it is important that people continue observing the guidelines issued by the health authorities.