More than half of 30+ cohort vaccinated, or registered for vaccination

Malta’s vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is proceeding relentlessly as now more than 50 per cent of people aged between 30 and 39 have either already received the first dose of the jab or are registered to get it, Health Chief Charmaine Gauci said yesterday.

As from this past week, people aged 30 and over have been encouraged to take the vaccine. The campaign is set to continue with people aged up to 29 in the coming weeks, although no specific date has as yet been given.

Fifty-nine per cent of people over the age of 40 have been vaccinated, 72 per cent of people aged between 50 and 59 have taken at least one dose while 95% of those over 60 have now been vaccinated as well.

Asked when she expects people aged 20 and over to start applying for the vaccine, Gauci said that the focus for the time being is the vaccine roll-out for those aged 30 and over, as well as other age groups. Health authorities will continue with the current roll-out and consideration will then be given to over 20s in due time.

Herd immunity will consider not only people who have received both doses of the vaccine, but also those who have received a single dose. One dose of the vaccine will provide one with a good sense of immunity and thus will be included in the consideration of herd immunity, she confirmed.

Gauci said that the vaccination process is going well, with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine now being used as well.

Twelve new cases of Covid-19 were found yesterday and one patient died while positive for the virus, the health authorities said on Friday.

The number of active cases now stands at 252, after 19 people recovered, and the total number of cases so far is 30,432.

There was one death, a 95year-old who passed away at Mater Dei Hospital. The death toll now stands at 417.

Twelve new cases of Covid-19 were found yesterday and one patient has died while positive for the virus

A total of 29,763 people have recovered from the virus.

1,956 swab tests were performed on Thursday, for a total of 365,902 so far.

The authorities said that, until Thursday, 365,902 doses of the vaccine had been administered. From these, 115,333 people have been fully vaccinated.

Gauci said that the number of cases is now decreasing, and this is thanks to the vaccination programme in particular. The seven-day moving average of cases now stands at 20, with a positivity rate of just 1.1%.

The majority of the cases found remain ones traceable to the UK variant, while there are now 5 cases of the South African variant and 22 cases of the Brazilian variant. Till now no cases of the Indian variant have been detected.

Four patients are currently receiving treatment in Mater Dei’s Intensive Therapy Unit.

The students’ cluster from last week continued being monitored and another 3 cases related to this cluster were found.

This was the first week were there no cases were found at old people’s homes, she said.

Gauci said that the majority of cases over the past week were traced to households (24) and to imported cases (20).

Fourteen cases were traced to social gatherings, while another thirteen were traced to educational institutions. Ten were found in institutions, while another four were found in workplaces. No cases were traced to sports or similar activities.

The majority of new cases are in the 20 - 24 years age group, while the average age of cases in the past week was of 37.7. Four people died while positive for Covid-19 in the past week, Gauci said.

Gauci observed that even though case numbers remain low, people should still get tested if they feel any symptoms of the virus.

During the last week only one passenger from Italy who arrived in Malta tested positive.

The Health Superintendent explained that the removal of certain measures is studied to keep cases as low as possible and people should respect all mitigation measures to keep the best safe situation possible.

Asked if children will be unable to travel with their parents who have the vaccine certificate, Gauci said that children will be able to join their parents without the need of a vaccine passport, so long as they provide a negative PCR test.

Contact sports for adolescents aged 17 and under will be halted until 28 June as it poses a higher risk to a spread of the virus and one cannot risk a situation where classes could go into quarantine because of a positive case, Gauci said. Noncontact sports will resume on 10 May to ensure that those aged 17 or under are kept active.

Although English language schools will be allowed to reopen on 1 June, the opening of sixth forms has not been announced in order that scholastic exams, which will take place in tandem with the opening of ELT schools, will not be jeopardized.

Asked about the immunity of the vaccines, Gauci said that the vaccines will provide at least 6 months of protection and that studies regarding the immunity of the vaccines are being followed closely. In line with the findings of these studies and the drop in immunity of Maltese citizens, Gauci said that a third booster dose will be administered.

She denied that night clubs will reopen this June, since they are defined as mass activities.

Should a vaccinated individual come into contact with a positive case, the individual is required to go into a full 14-day quarantine. The only exception to this rule is fully-vaccinated health care workers, who will need to go into quarantine for a five-day period and be allowed out with a negative PCR test.

If a person is fully vaccinated and has a passport certificate in hand, they will not need to provide a negative PCR test to travel, since vaccination is the best form of protection against the virus, Gauci confirmed.

She said that bars and clubs will work with protocols when they re-open on 7th June and will adopt a ‘restaurant concept’, whereby customers are seated at a table rather than given the liberty to move freely around the establishment.