Malta’s R number – or rate of infection – is currently between 1 and 1.5, meaning the COVID-19 epidemic is growing here.
The number of active cases has risen to 2,801 infections across the country with triple-figure numbers reported nearly every day this month.
Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci said on Wednesday that the rise continued to be linked to the Christmas and New Year festivities.
She told Times of Malta’s Ask Charmaine programme that authorities were now seeing “secondary infections”, meaning those who were infected over the holidays were passing it on to other clusters of people.
“The numbers are still high. If you look at what’s happening, many of them are clusters related to both Christmas, and even more, the New Year festivities. But we also have cases which are the secondary cases.
“So you would have a cluster out of a meal or a gathering and then you would have cases that arise out of those cases.”
She said that like elsewhere in Europe the drop in temperature was also impacting case numbers. Dismissing suggestions to impose a lockdown, as has been the case in other countries, Gauci said the health authorities were still in a position to say where the cases were coming from and this makes them easier to control and stop.
The R factor gives health authorities a better picture of how the virus is spreading and how fast the epidemic is growing or shrinking.
Any figure above one is considered a problem because it suggests patients are infecting more than one other person.
The figure had gone down to below one before the summer and shot back up to around 2 in October, when the number of new cases of infections started a weeks-long spike.
Gauci again urged people to avoid gatherings, especially during the upcoming Carnival holidays, saying social gatherings in homes or rental accommodation ought to be avoided.
She also called on people to avoid mixing with others from different households.
Gauci also confirmed that the majority of those who have received the
COVID-19 jab have not experienced side effects.
Over 15,000 doses have been administered since the rollout began on December 27.
Gauci said of those with side-effects, most had sore arms from the needle while a few others experienced fatigue and fever. These symptoms subsided after a day or two, she said.