Malta registered 79 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with the same number of virus patients recovering overnight.

As a result, the number of active cases in the country stood at 1,898 as of 12.30pm.  

It was the second consecutive day when new case figures remained below three digits, following Tuesday's two-month low tally of 40 new cases.

Wednesday's cases were detected from 2,909 swab tests, meaning 2.72 per cent of tests were positive over the past 24 hours. On Tuesday, the positive rate stood at 2.25 per cent. 

Three further deaths 

Three elderly virus patients died overnight, bumping the COVID-19 death toll in Malta up to 160. Details about the three victims were provided earlier by the Health Ministry. 

Details about Wednesday's cases are still being gathered by contact tracing teams. Of Tuesday's cases: 

• 18 were family members of known cases
• Five were work colleagues of known cases
• Three were in direct contact with known cases