Over half of the COVID-19 patients at Mater Dei Hospital were found to be infected during testing when they were admitted for other conditions, Times of Malta can confirm.
Public health chief Charmaine Gauci said on Thursday that the majority of those in hospital were not admitted because of complications related to the virus. She did not provide any further details.
A health ministry spokesperson confirmed on Friday that, despite the situation in hospital changing “from time to time”, at the moment “40 per cent of admitted patients are for COVID-related problems while 60 per cent are incidental and found to be positive during routine screening”.
As of Friday, there were 123 patients in hospital. However, based on the percentages provided by the spokesperson, only around 50 were actually admitted because of the virus.
The rest are suffering from other conditions which required hospital treatment.
There are currently some 15,000 people infected with the virus in the country.
Meanwhile, according to the latest European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) data, hospital admissions were registered as having shot up during the last two weeks of 2021.
From a rate of 2.9 new cases per 100,000 people, Malta’s figure went up to 11.5 in mid-December and kept increasing during the final week of the year to reach 13.6.
Meanwhile, the new ITU admissions rate has remained less than one despite the spike in cases. It remained constant at 0.77 cases per 100,000 people for the last two weeks of the year. The figure has been consistently less than one since April 2021.
According to Gauci, the number of those with COVID complications is on a downward trend, something she said showed that the booster dose is having an impact.
“It’s a positive thing because the number of people admitted with complications is decreasing,” she said.
“This is good because it means the booster is having an effect.”
There are currently seven patients who require intensive care, with Gauci saying most of these patients have what is known as COVID pneumonia.