35 new cases found, as active cases increase by two

35 new cases of Coronavirus were found in Malta between Saturday and Sunday, health authorities said on Sunday.

33 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus, meaning that the number of active cases on the island has increased by two to 668, after a decrease on Saturday.

A total of 2,173 swab tests were carried out between Saturday and Sunday, taking the total number of swab tests up to 173,276.

The number of swab tests carried out daily has exceeded 2,000 every day since August 15, with the two new testing hubs opened in the past week or so in Qormi and Burmarrad, joining the four already operating in Pembroke, Luqa, Mater Dei, and Xewkija.

Authorities said that Sunday’s cases are still being investigated, however provided details on the cases found on Saturday.

They said that from Saturday’s 31 new cases, 9 were family members of previously known cases, one was a direct contact of a known case, three were work colleagues of a positive case, and another one was from the Paceville cluster.

The Paceville cluster remains the largest one which Malta is currently facing, with it now being made up of 78 cases.

After three days with the number of new cases being found being above 60 around ten days ago, the number of daily new cases has hovered between the 30 and 40 cases mark in the last four days.

Recoveries meanwhile have started to increase – with 150 cases having recovered in the same four days. All patients who test positive for the virus are retested 14 days later in order for authorities to see whether they have recovered or not.

The new figures mean that a total of 1,612 cases of Coronavirus have been found since the first case of the virus was found in Malta on 7 March.

Out of those, 934 have recovered while 10 have died – with the most recent of those deaths coming in the past week.