Malta recorded a five-month high of daily Covid-19 cases on Friday, but the government was silent on the possibility of adding to the restrictions already in place as the country prepares for a festive two weeks.

The number of new cases registered on Friday rocketed to 221 on Friday, the first time since July that the daily tally exceeded 200.

Before yesterday, the last time Malta registered more than 200 daily cases was on 20 July, when 217 had been recorded.

153 people have recovered from the virus, meaning that Malta currently has exactly 1,600 active cases.

Again, this is nearly a five-month high, as the last time Malta had a higher number of active cases was on 2 August, when we had 1,609.

20 patients – up by four since Thursday – are currently being treated at Mater Dei Hospital, with three of those in intensive care.

Up till Thursday, 1,005,114 doses of the vaccine had been administered. 165,403 of those were booster shots.

Malta has had 41,188 cases of the virus so far. 38,798 of those have recovered, while 471 have died.

But, as the numbers rise, there is no hint from the government that it intends to increase the restrictions.

When asked on Thursday, Health Minister Chris Fearne said there is no need to add to the restrictions in place. The only added measure that came to be in Malta these last few weeks was the wearing of the mask in public, a measure that has been criticised sharply as infections are mostly transmissible in enclosed places where people gather in big numbers, and not on the street.

And yet no restrictions have been increased for social gatherings, which are common during the Christmas season, especially in the next two weeks.

Fearne on Thursday said that there is no need to increase travel restrictions either.

Other countries, however, have upped their controls on travelling from the UK, which is registering a surge in the number of cases. Record numbers were reached in the UK this week.

France said that it will slap restrictions on travellers arriving from the U.K. — which is no longer part of the EU — putting limits on reasons for traveling and requiring 48 hours of isolation upon arrival. The new measures will take effect early Saturday.

Elsewhere, Greece and Italy tightened entry requirements for travellers earlier this week, and Portugal decided to keep stricter border controls in place beyond their planned January 9 end.

Observers said that the government is reluctant to increase restrictions a few days before Christmas, believing that this would disrupt business over a traditionally busy period.