The vast majority of Malta's recent Covid-19 cases remain individuals who are unvaccinated, but the Delta variant is now more prevalent at a community level in the country, Health Minister Chris Fearne said.
In a press conference where Fearne also announced that the possibility that the death of a 5-year-old girl was related to Covid-19 was being investigated, the Health Minister said that only 10% out of the positive cases being found are vaccinated.
One person is currently receiving treatment in Mater Dei's intensive therapy unit, Fearne said.
However, the Minister did note that the "Delta variant seems to have started to spread in our country."
16 different English Language schools have had positive cases of Covid-19, he noted.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the legal notice regarding the intake of only vaccinated tourists and the closure of the English language schools will be published later on today.
In the next few days, the Government and health authorities will announce more vaccine certificates of different countries which will be accepted by Maltese authorities.
Speaking about the European Commission's criticism of Malta's decision to allow only vaccinated tourists into the country, Fearne said that "it is not Malta's fault" that the vaccine program has been doing well and that other European countries are lagging behind. However, he did remark that "collaboration is important with other EU countries".
"We want those who visit us to be vaccinated to keep themselves safe and to keep the situation under control."
A booster shot is also being considered, Fearne said, but Malta as a country as well as the ECDC are still studying this possibility.
"The ECDC is saying that there is no need for a booster for now. We are conducting our studies as to whether we need it or not and we have the logistics in place to give the vaccines."
Answering questions raised by The Malta Independent, the minister remarked that the majority of the cases are under 30 years of age.
Malta registered 154 new cases of the virus on Tuesday and 179 cases of the virus on Monday, with the number of active cases currently standing at 782.