Three elderly people died on Wednesday as 138 new COVID-19 cases were reported.

The Health authorities said the victims were two men aged 68 and 84 who died at Mater Dei Hospital and a woman, 90, who died at Karin Grech Hospital after having been diagnosed with COVID-19.

The number of vaccinations has reached 30,252 with 4,891 having had two doses.

2,973 swab cases were made over the past 24 hours. 190 patients recovered leaving 2,610 active cases.

The number of deaths has reached 273.

The Superintendent of Public Health, Charmaine Gauci said on Times of Malta's Ask Charmaine programme that after the post-Christmas spike, there had been an overall downward trend in new cases but it was too early to reach conclusions and one needed to see how people react to mitigation measures and, eventually, vaccination.

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