The Health Ministry on Tuesday acknowledged that a COVID-19 patient who died on Sunday was virus-free when he first entered hospital, contradicting its initial statement about the death. 

It also disclosed that the patient had been admitted to Mater Dei Hospital on August 9, two weeks earlier than the August 23 admission date it had initially provided.

The man, who died on Sunday, was the twelfth person to die while infected with COVID-19 in Malta. Authorities announcing his death had said that the man had been admitted to hospital on August 23 and found to be COVID-19 positive one day later, following a viral swab administered to all people admitted to hospital.

But on Monday, his family said that information was wrong and that their relative had contracted the virus while receiving treatment at Mater Dei. They insisted that the victim had been admitted to hospital two weeks earlier, on August 9, and had tested negative for COVID-19 upon admission. 

The family said authorities had also gotten the victim's age wrong, saying he was 86 years old when he was in reality 85. 

On Tuesday, the ministry issued a statement acknowledging the family's timeline of events. It said that the man had tested negative on August 9 and was tested again on August 23 when his condition took a turn for the worse.

It transpired that the man had contracted COVID-19, however, no patients or members of staff in the same ward tested positive to the virus. 

He was transferred to the Infectious Disease Unit on August 24, where he died on Sunday, the authorities added.