Authorities announced 136 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, with the number of active virus cases in the country declining marginally as a result of 149 patients recovering overnight.

One patient died, data released by the health ministry showed. The victim was an 85-year-old man who died at Mater Dei Hospital. 

A total of 265 people have died while COVID-19 positive since the virus was first detected in Malta in March 2020. 

The 136 new cases announced on Saturday were detected from 3,431 swab tests, resulting in a positivity rate of just under 4%. The positivity rate, which is a measure of the proportion of tests which are positive, is used to calculate the spread of infection within a community. 

As of Saturday, there were 2,681 active COVID-19 cases in the country. 

Vaccination rollout continued, with 25,822 vaccine doses administered in total as of Friday - meaning 1,142 jabs were administered on Friday. 

2,962 of the total doses administered so far have been second doses. 

Patients require two separate vaccine doses, administered some weeks apart, in order to obtain full protection against the virus.