The parties that were held over the Carnival weekend and the many activities and social gatherings being organised by political parties and individual candidates have led to a sharp increase in the number of daily and active Covid-19 cases in the past weeks.

More than 300 new cases were registered on Thursday, figures released by the health authorities show. The last time we had surpassed 300 daily cases was on 26 January.

A day earlier, on Wednesday, we had surpassed the 200 number for the first time since 4 February.

Daily statistics show that 304 cases were registered on Thursday, while only 115 recoveries were recorded.

This has pushed up the number of active cases to 1,861. The last time we had a higher number of active cases was on 11 February, when Malta had 1,872.

One more death was recorded on Thursday, that of an 84-year-old woman. The total number of victims is now 619.

There are 50 people in hospital with Covid-19, one of whom is in intensive care.

The authorities said that 1,251,260 vaccination doses were administered, of which 347,580 were booster jabs.

Malta has had 73,611 cases of the virus, 70,760 of those have recovered.

Although health authorities have remained silent on the recent increase, it is clear that parties that were held over the Carnival weekend two weeks ago, and the holding of so many events linked with the election campaign have contributed to this increase.

 

While children in schools must continue to wear masks and graduation ceremonies are separating parents from the graduating students, little control is being exercised during political activities.