Thirty-one new COVID-19 cases were detected between Friday and Saturday, health authorities have said.

The new cases were identified following 2,310 swab tests.

Although healthcare workers added 31 new patients into their care, 47 other patients recovered from the virus. That meant that the number of active cases in the country declined marginally overnight and now stands at 666.

It is the 24th consecutive day that Malta has registered a double-digit increase in the daily number of new coronavirus cases.  However, Saturday’s 31-case addition is the lowest number of daily cases in eight days: the country had registered the same number of new cases on August 14.

Health authorities have had to contend with a significant spike in cases over the past month. Just six weeks ago, the number of active cases had declined to just three. 

The spike led to Malta shooting up Europe's coronavirus charts and many countries adding it to lists requiring quarantine for any returning travellers.

Restrictions on mass events were first introduced three weeks ago, in July 31, and then tightened further last week.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has said that relatively few local patients have been hospitalised and noted that Malta's rate of COVID-19 testing is among the world's best. 

Case details

Health authorities said that details about Saturday’s new cases were still being collected. They provided details about some of the 36 new cases registered one day prior, on Friday.

Of those cases:

• Eight were family members of previously-known cases
• Three were direct contacts of known cases
• Two were work colleagues of positive cases
• One came from a Paceville cluster

No information was made available about the 22 other positive cases registered on Friday.

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