Two elderly men die of COVID-19, total reaches 52

Two elderly men became the latest victims of COVID-19, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The first was an 82-year-old man. He was taken to Mater Dei Hospital on 30 September, where he tested negative for the virus.

Due to having COVID-19 symptoms, he was retested after his death and was found to have been positive.

"The man suffered from other chronic conditions."

On Sunday afternoon, the ministry issued a second statement about a 75-year-old man who also died of COVID-19.

The man tested positive on 23 October and yesterday was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital, where he died some time later.

The health ministry expressed its condolences to the families and urged everyone to follow the COVID-19 guidelines.

The number of people who have died of COVID-19 in Malta is now 52 – 19 women and 33 men.

In their daily COVID-19 update, the health authorities said yesterday that 125 new cases of COVID-19 were found, while 89 patients recovered.

This brings the total number of active COVID-19 cases up to 1,880. In total, there have been 52 deaths and 3,567 people have recovered. The total number of cases since the pandemic reached Malta last March now stands at 5,498.

The authorities said that between Saturday and Sunday 3,285 swab tests were carried out, bringing the total number of tests conducted since the beginning of the pandemic up to 317,904.

The cases announced on Sunday are still being investigated, however, the authorities gave an overview of the cases that were announced on Saturday.

From Saturday's cases, 46 were family members of previous cases, six were contacts of positive work colleagues, two had direct contact with other positive cases, one was from Paceville and one was imported.

In a separate statement, the Correctional Services agency said that 12 prison inmates are being kept in quarantine after testing positive for the virus. The patients are all being kept in isolation in Division 6 at the Corradino Correctional Facility.

"This is a precaution against the spread of COVID-19 - prisoners are held in quarantine and all necessary tests are performed during that period. In fact, all the positive cases were related to people who had recently entered the facility," their statement read.