Repatriation flight passenger tests positive, one patient recovers

One new case of Coronavirus was registered between Thursday and Friday, while one patient has recovered, the health authorities said.

The case registered was an imported, sporadic, symptomatic case.

It came just days after the reopening of the airport on Wednesday. It had been several weeks since an imported case had been reported. The passenger however, was not a tourist.

Air Malta, in a statement, said that a passenger that was repatriated to Malta on an Air Malta flight from Amsterdam tested positive to Covid-19 during a routine swab test. “The airline advises all passengers on repatriation flights to conduct a swab test on their return to Malta. The flight from Amsterdam was not one of the air bridge destinations which were opened on the 1st of July 2020. The standard contact tracing procedure commenced by the Health Authorities. All standard precautionary protocols as recommended by EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) and the Health Authorities have been followed including the sanitisation of the aircraft.”

The health authorities said that the number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic now stands at 672, with nine deaths. The last death was recorded more than a month ago, on 29 May.

The number of patients who have recovered is 650, while 13 active cases remain.

The number of swab tests carried out was 981, for a total of 98,139.