Malta's COVID-19 case rate is now the lowest in Europe, with the figure being the lowest since mid-December, EU data shows. 

According to a weekly review by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Malta's 14-day case rate stands at 593.9 cases per 100,000 people. 

At the peak of the January spike, which saw thousands of cases being detected daily, the rate had stood at over 2,500 cases per 100,000 people. 

Malta's latest rate is the lowest in Europe, with the country with the second-lowest rate, Poland, detecting almost three times as many cases. Poland's rate stood at 1,482.3 cases per 100,000 people.

The EU average was also significantly higher, at 3,604.5 cases per 100,000 people. 

The drop in cases comes less than two months since Malta’s worsening COVID-19 situation was deemed the most worrying in Europe at the end of the year.

At the time, Malta was classified as being of “very high concern” with a score of nine out of 10. This score has since also dropped to 6.5, among the lowest in Europe. 

Following days of record-breaking tallies at the end of the year and the first few weeks of January, Malta's COVID-19 situation started to improve, with the number of cases as well as the positivity rate dropping. 

Malta's positivity rate, the number of positive cases detected out of the total number of tests carried out, stands at 5.9% after peaking at 14% at the beginning of January. 

According to the ECDC, hospital admissions have stabilised while the number of those requiring intensive care is decreasing.  

In spite of this, according to the ECDC, the death rate is still increasing and currently stands at 27.2 cases per one million people.

Public health chief Charmaine Gauci has said that the number of victims in comparison with the number of active cases would have been much higher had most people not had the COVID-19 vaccine.