At least 21 COVID-19 patients are part of a cluster of construction workers involved in the Marsa junction project, Times of Malta is informed.
Figures supplied by the health authorities show that since the first cases were detected on Tuesday, the number of workers with the virus continued to increase, with 18 workers testing positive for the virus overnight.
The authorities said a total of 93 workers were tested. The 21 who have tested positive are being kept in isolation together, while the remaining 72 are in quarantine.
Contact tracing to detect any other potential cases is still under way though it is believed that the workers, who are foreigners, all live together under the same roof.
Sources said although this facilitated the contact tracing process, the workers had been out and about in the community and so it was still crucial to establish who they might have been in contact with.
This is the second time that a group of construction workers tested positive for the virus. In June, just as the number of new cases had started to dwindle, a cluster of construction workers working with an Italian construction company had been detected.
At the time, Health Minister Chris Fearne had downplayed concerns of a resurgence, saying such clusters were to be expected from time to time.
On Tuesday, Infrastructure Malta said the issue involving workers may result in delays to the large-scale roads project. The agency is believed to be in talks with the contractor to try and limit the spread and ensure the project continues to move forward soon.
The contractor is working to complete the final works of three new flyovers and open more lanes of this €70 million multi-level intersection project. To ensure workers' safety, the opening of these lanes and flyovers may now be postponed by a few weeks, the agency said on Tuesday.
In May, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg had said more than half of the works on the project had been completed.
There are currently 387 active COVID-19 cases in Malta after 42 new cases were detected on Thursday.