A 73-year-old woman has died at Mater Dei Hospital while COVID-19 positive, becoming Malta's 421st virus victim and its first in well over one month. 

The death was reported by the Health Ministry in its daily COVID-19 update, which reported 171 new virus cases and 19 virus patients receiving treatment in hospital - including one in intensive care. 

Malta's last COVID-related death was reported on June 17. 

A total of 92 patients recovered overnight while 299 positive patients were repatriated, leaving 2,373 active virus cases. 

The 19 hospitalisations is the same number reported on Friday. 

Healthcare workers carried out 3,926 swab tests over the previous day.

Vaccination

Healthcare workers administered more than 5,600 vaccine doses on Friday, the data showed. 

More than 368,000 people are now fully vaccinated, with 392,444 having receiving a first dose. 

Earlier on Saturday, a large crowd of protesters gathered in Valletta to protest against pandemic restrictions, COVID-19 vaccination and other public health measures currently in place. 

Meanwhile, authorities are planning to ease self-isolation rules for fully vaccinated people who come into close contact with a positive virus case. The tentative plan is to allow such people out of self-isolation if they test negative after a five-day period. 

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