Malta's number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 30 on Saturday.

The number of active cases now stands at 399 after another 36 people recovered from the virus in the last day.

So far, 14 deaths have been linked to COVID-19 in Malta, the latest victim passing away on Saturday morning. Aged 85, he was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital on Tuesday, despite testing positive on August 26.

A total of 1,703 tests were carried out between Friday and Saturday, meaning a total of 200,586 swabs have been taken over the past six months.

Health Minister Chris Fearne tweeted earlier that Malta has now surpassed the 200,000 swab tests mark for COVID-19. This number was "equivalent to more than 40% of Malta’s resident population", he said.

This does not mean that two-fifths of the population has been tested for the virus as several people have been swabbed multiple times. 

Today we hit the 200,000 mark for #Covid_19 swab tests in total - equivalent to more than 40% of #Malta’s resident population. pic.twitter.com/pwxkhveJNL

— Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne) September 5, 2020

Friday's cases

While Saturday's cases are still being investigated, five of Friday's 19 cases were traced to the workplace, the authorities said.

Three were relatives of previously known cases and another three were direct contacts of positive cases. 

As things stand, Malta's total number of cases per 100,000 population is 92.7 – among the highest in the EU, according to the European Centre of Disease Control’s daily list.

However, the country is set to be on the EU’s ‘orange’ travel list if a European Commission proposal to harmonise restrictions goes through, according to calculations by Times of Malta based on official data.

This could see travellers to and from the island needing to provide paperwork to show how authorities can locate them.

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Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci has welcomed the recent drop in the number of new cases, however, she is warning people to be vigilant as flu season nears. 

In her weekly update, Gauci said that while authorities are seeing a gradual decrease in the number of new and active cases, the numbers were still "substantial". 

She said that as authorities continue to monitor the gradual dip, the change in season could bring other concerns.