Malta’s COVID-19 death rate reached a record high last week, more than trebling since the beginning of the year, fresh EU figures show.
The increase comes as all other rates – daily cases, positive tests, hospital occupancy and infections among the elderly – have dropped.
The data emerged from the weekly report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and which covered the seven-day period ending on January 23.
One in three died due to pre-existing condition
According to the figures, Malta’s death rate stood at 85.5 deaths per million people, the highest ever figure since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. At the beginning of the year, the rate stood at 25.3 deaths per million.
Public health officials have told Times of Malta that the virus was not the main cause of death in every case and some 35 per cent of patients died from another pre-existing condition.
The country’s COVID death rate has been on an upward trend since the end of December. At the time, Malta’s infection rates had peaked to record highs.
Deaths from the virus often lag behind community transmission, meaning they tend to come around three to four weeks after peaks in infection rates.
Meanwhile, according to the ECDC’s data, the COVID-19 situation in Malta continued to improve overall during the third week of January, the period under review.
Cases, positivity rate, hospital admissions
The case rate, for instance, dropped to 827.5 cases per 100,000 people from 1,578 in the previous week. This was the lowest in over a month.
The positivity rate – the percentage of infections from the number of tests carried out – dropped further to just 5.5 per cent, two percentage points lower than the previous week.
At the peak of the Omicron spike in December, the rate had shot up to over 14 per cent.
Hospital rates also remained under control last week, with the ECDC describing both admissions and ICU occupancy as “stable” and similar to the previous week.
The downward trends registered recently, coupled with the high uptake of booster doses, has prompted the government to review the current restrictions, with Health Minister Chris Fearne saying they will be eased from February 7.
The first rule to go will be the requirement to present a vaccine certificate at catering establishments. From the following week, starting February 14, the certificates will no longer be needed for entry to bars, gyms, spas, pools, cinemas and theatres.