Extra strain is being put on the health services as the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has shot up to 42, with five of them in intensive care, the health authorities said Monday.

There were 30 people in hospital with Covid on Sunday, with 4 in intensive care.

The number of daily cases registered is again high, with 252 recorded, while only 80 have recovered.

This has pushed the number of active cases up again, to 2,190, nearly as high as they were on 28 July, when there were 2,194 active cases.

There were no new victims, as the total number of people who died with Covid-19 remains at 471.

The authorities said that 1,012,731 vaccination doses have been administered, including 172,357 booster jabs.

Malta has had 42,013 cases of the virus since the pandemic first reached the islands. 39,033 of those have recovered.