Forty-two new coronavirus cases were detected between Tuesday and Wednesday, the health authorities said.

The new COVID-19 cases were identified from a total of 2,444 swab tests. 

In their daily update on Facebook, the health ministry also said 60 patients had recovered overnight.

This means that as of 12.30pm on Wednesday, Malta had a reported 658 active cases, not including migrants, out of a total of 2,856 detected since the start of the pandemic outbreak in March.

A total of 238,084 swabs have been taken so far.

The past few days have been Malta’s worst since the start of the pandemic. Three deaths were recorded on Saturday, one on Sunday, two on Monday, one on Tuesday and another on Wednesday bringing the number of coronavirus-linked deaths up to 25.

Malta also registered a record number of new coronavirus cases with the highest daily tally of 106 new patients, recorded a week ago today. 

The country is currently the fifth-highest country in the EU in terms of cases per 100,000 people and the third-highest in terms of deaths per 100,000 over the past 14 days. Spain tops the European Centre for Disease Control tables.

Details about Wednesday’s are still being compiled.

From the 38 cases detected on Monday:

* two were from a cluster of cases at the St Joseph Home for the elderly;

* two were from a cluster of cases at Casa Antonia Home for the elderly;

* 11 were family members of previously-known cases;

* five were work colleagues of previously-known cases;

* one was from social gatherings with other positive cases;

* three were direct contacts of other positive cases; and

* one case was imported.

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