Health Minister Chris Fearne has said that the Covid-19 situation is well under control, and that there are no cases of monkeypox in Malta.

Fearne was answering media questions on Thursday after a press conference.

The Health Minister said that in the past few days there were no Covid-19 patients receiving care in Mater Dei’s Intensive Therapy Unit, though there is now one person receiving treatment there.

This is despite the fact that almost all of Malta’s Covid-19 restrictions have now been lifted.

Malta currently has 1,556 active cases of Covid-19, and Fearne said that over 30,000 people aged over 65 have taken their fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose.

Turning to monkeypox, of which cases have been detected in a number of European countries, Fearne said that there were no confirmed cases of the virus in Malta and noted his regret at “one or two” people on social media who had needlessly created alarm.

A hastily written claim from a social media page that Malta had confirmed a case of monkeypox was quickly proven to be false as the case turned out to be chickenpox.

Fearne also made sure to stress that “monkeypox is not Covid” and that the closest thing to it is chickenpox.  People who are infected with monkeypox usually suffer from a fever and rashes on their hands and face.

The Health Minister added that if there were to be monkeypox cases the situation would be identical to chickenpox, and that those aged over 50 were likely to be protected from it as well because they would have been inoculated against smallpox – which also gave immunity from monkeypox.