Fifteen of Malta’s 311 active coronavirus patients are currently in hospital, although only one patient is doing poorly.

Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci provided the details during a press briefing on Friday, held after 49 new coronavirus cases were detected overnight. 

It is the second-highest number of new cases detected since the virus was first discovered in Malta in March, and the first daily briefing by Gauci since she had ended her daily broadcasts in early June, as virus cases began to subside. 

The newly-discovered cases were detected from more than 1,700 swab tests. 

There have been 995 detected coronavirus cases in the country so far. 

Gauci used the briefing to provide some details about existing COVID-19 cases, remind the public about the importance of maintaining social distancing and explain how health authorities were stepping up their response teams to cope with the surge in caseloads.

She also urged people to keep in mind that it would take days for new restrictions on mass events and visits to the elderly to have an impact on daily case numbers.

Her hour-long briefing almost came to an abrupt and premature end after Gauci temporarily lost her voice and choked while answering a question. The Superintendent, wearing a mask throughout, managed to regain her composure and continue where she left off. 

New cases

Four patients are being kept inside Mater Dei Hospital’s infectious diseases unit. 

One of those – an 84-year-old man with preexisting medical conditions – is doing poorly. 

Four other patients are at St Thomas Hospital with a further seven at Boffa Hospital. Their condition is all stable. 

One of the new patients is a child who attended summer school programme Skolasajf. Gauci reassured parents that contact tracing is under way and that authorities were prepared for cases to crop up within schools. 

“We reduced class sizes and increased the distance between children, to greatly reduce the risk of transmission,” she said. Children are also being allowed out in cohorts to further reduce the risk, she added.   

No patient is in intensive care. 

Gauci said that many of the new cases were either asymptomatic or had displayed relatively minor symptoms and did not require hospitalisation. 

Hospitalisation rates in Malta have remained low throughout the pandemic, with fewer than one in every 10 coronavirus patients requiring a hospital bed. 

Clusters

Since case numbers surged, a number of clusters have been identified.

20 cases have been linked to a Hotel Takeover party held in July, while 33 have been traced back to festivities to celebrate the Santa Venera feast. 

A further 33 cases were linked to bars and clubs in Paceville, with more than one establishment linked.  

Another cluster of 14 patients is related to foreign students at English language schools. 

But other cases were sporadic – meaning they had not been linked to any previously known cases. Managing these cases was crucial, Gauci said, as it meant there could be other coronavirus cases which had not yet been detected. 

The majority of new cases have been among young people. 

‘We never eliminated COVID’

Gauci said that a rise in cases was to be expected, given that restrictions had been eased last month. 

But the increase had been dramatic and had forced authorities to reintroduce some restrictions, she said. 

Measures were added or removed based on the situation at hand, she said. Earlier on Friday, public health professionals had accused the government of disregarding scientific evidence when it relaxed measures in July.

Coronavirus testing was being increased and two new testing hubs will be opened soon to meet a surge in demand for testing, Gauci said. Additional lab technicians would also allow health authorities to process more tests on a daily basis, she said. 

Late last month, Times of Malta reported that calls to the COVID-19 hotline had shot up to 10,000 a day, from the 1,000-a-day average being previously recorded.  

Contact tracing teams were also being beefed up, Gauci said, and volunteers were also helping with this task. She acknowledged that contact tracing had become harder now that people were out and about. 

Mass events

“Our position is that mass events should not take place,” Gauci said during the briefing. 

“Other, smaller events are still allowed.” 

Earlier on Friday, Health Minister Chris Fearne said that any indoor events would have to be capped at 100 people, with outdoor events capped at 300. 

Outdoor events posed a much lesser risk for virus transmission than indoor ones, she said. 

Gauci noted that it would take several days before the effects of the new restrictions were reflected in the numbers, and encouraged people to keep that in mind. 

Advice for vulnerable 

Gauci made a direct appeal to people classified as especially vulnerable to repercussions of the virus. 

People in such a condition should avoid crowded places and be mindful of where they visited, Gauci said. 

“Vulnerable people know which places are risky and which are safe,” she said. 

Visits to residents of elderly homes would now take place behind perspex screens, she said, to protect them from virus transmission.

“I know this is not ideal, but that's what the situation requires,” Gauci said. 

Carers at these homes would also be tested for the virus more regularly, she said. 

Enforcing mask rules

Times of Malta asked Gauci how authorities would be enforcing a €50 fine introduced for anyone caught not wearing a mask in shops or public places.

She said that police, Malta Tourism Authority officials and health department personnel would be enforcing the law. But again, she also made a public appeal for people to cooperate and not cause problems to shop owners. 

State of emergency

Asked what was stopping her from reintroducing a state of emergency, Gauci initially did not reply. When pressed on the matter by a second journalist, Gauci said health authorities now had more tools to limit the virus spread than they did at the start of the pandemic. 

Gauci reiterated her appeal for people to wear masks, practice good hand hygiene and report any COVID-19 symptoms to the 111 helpline. Anyone with symptoms should stay at home until they were tested, she added.  

Gauci said earlier this week that she was concerned about the rise in case numbers over recent weeks. The resurgence has seen Malta’s number of active cases rise from just three on July 17 to 311 by Friday. 

Slightly more than 100 of the 311 cases are of migrants who tested positive after being disembarked in Malta. 

Correction August 7: A previous version incorrectly noted that four patients are at Boffa Hospital. The actual number is seven.