Another 179 people have tested positive for COVID-19, health authorities said on Friday, while one further victim died with the virus.

The 77-year-old woman passed away at Mater Dei Hospital. She is the 364th person to die while COVID-19 positive. 

Friday's 179 new cases were detected from just over 4,000 swab tests. 

The 179 cases detected is the lowest daily figure registered in 19 days. The country has averaged 246 new daily cases over the past seven days, down from an average of 299 new cases every day during the preceding seven-day period. 

Meanwhile, a further 314 people recovered over the past 24 hours, meaning there are currently 2,898 active COVID cases. 

It is the first time since March 2 that the number of active cases fell below the 3,000 mark. 

On Thursday Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci said that three out of every four new cases of COVID-19 are of the highly-transmissible UK variant.

Vaccination

So far, 138,264 Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccine doses have been administered, 42,557 of which were second doses.

The data means that 4,393 vaccine doses were administered on Thursday. 

Late on Thursday, several countries said they would resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after Europe's medical regulator said the jab is "safe and effective" and not associated with a higher blood clot risk after days of commotion around the shot.