People who have had COVID-19 vaccines still need to take care and follow social distancing measures to protect themselves, Charmaine Gauci has warned. 

Vaccination gives a strong level of protection against the virus and has been shown to prevent people from getting seriously ill. 

The Superintendent of Public Health made the call as she confirmed that some people have tested positive for the virus in the period between receiving the first dose and the second.

However, she said these people had already been exposed to COVID-19, suggesting they received the vaccine during the virus' incubation period. She later confirmed to Times of Malta that 50 people tested positive after taking a first dose of the vaccine.

As of Thursday, 24,680 vaccine doses had been administered. 

"When a person gets the first dose, they have 52 per cent immunity- and the second dose 95 per cent," she explained.

"There have been cases of some who were in contact with the virus, and then tested positive for the virus after being vaccinated. It is important to know that this is because they were exposed to the virus beforehand." 

Gauci warned people of the importance of maintaining social distancing during her weekly update on the COVID-19 situation in Malta.  

Watch the update live below:

It comes as the latest figures show there have been a further 185 new cases and another three deaths. 

Gauci began her briefing by highlighting the progress of Malta's vaccination programme, which has so far administered 24,680 doses, including 2,518 second doses.

She said public health was "doing very well" with vaccinating residents and staff in elderly homes.

“By the end of February we should have vaccinated all those elderly and workers at elderly homes,” she said.

She said those aged over 85 and who are housebound will be receiving the vaccine soon. 

Asked about Germany's decision to limit the AstraZeneca jab to those aged under 65 because of "insufficient data" on its impact on older people, Gauci said Maltese authorities would wait for the advice of the EU's medicines watchdog.

"The situation is because the company did not do enough tests on other age groups, so are unable to see the effectiveness of the jab. It is not a question of safety. Malta is waiting to see what the recommendations will be of the European Medical agency," she said.

What is the situation in hospitals?

Speaking a week after doctors union MAM, warned that Mater Dei hospital was reaching "breaking point" due to COVID-19 patients, Gauci detailed the number of people in hospitals with the virus.

There are 16 patients in the intensive treatment unit of Mater Dei - two fewer than last week - six in the infectious diseases unit and 44 in other wards. 

The breakdown of patients in other hospitals and facilities is:

• Ten patients in Boffa;
• Nine patients in St Thomas;
• 13 patients in Karin Grech;
• 43 patients in the Good Samaritan facility;
• 10 patients in Mount Carmel;
• 11 patients in Gozo General

How is the virus being spread?

While the peak in cases after the Christmas period is decreasing, Gauci said, it "has not stabilised" and so "we are seeing numbers increasing slightly" with the moving average at 160 cases a day. 

The largest cluster of cases is connected to family - with 416 active cases related to households - followed by social gatherings (135 cases), workplaces (118), institutions (76) and sports and gym facilities.

"With high-intensive physical activity, the person is taking more breaths and there is a higher chance that the person might catch the virus so we appeal that if there are sports activities with high activity, please keep social distancing," she said. 

She also warned people gathering, including maskless Ħamrun football supporters shown celebrating this week, that we "cannot afford" such behaviour.

"I appeal all those people who took part in this celebration and develop any symptoms, to please call 111 and also that we learn from these gatherings," she said.

There are seven homes for the elderly with active cases but the numbers are small, amounting to fewer than five cases in each home.

Of those who arrived in to Malta in the last week, four of 788 tests were positive. One person from Tunisia, one from Austria, one from Bulgaria and one from Italy. 

Overall there are 2,598 people with COVID-19 in Malta and 89 in Gozo.

How old are the patients?

The majority of the new cases are aged between 35 and 44 years old, however Gauci said public health was seeing an increase in those aged 65 to 74 testing positive for the virus. 

"We appeal for older people to take care of themselves when they do go out, to avoid big crowds," she said. 

Most of those who die with COVID-19 are aged 75- 84 and are mainly men.