Malta recorded five new COVID-19 cases on Sunday while eight virus patients recovered, pushing the number of active cases in the country down even further to 81.

No patients died, continuing a 17-day positive streak in which the total virus death toll has remained unchanged at 417.

Sunday's case numbers continue a positive downward trend which has seen new virus case numbers chopped down from several hundred every day in March to just a handful per day in recent weeks.

Healthcare workers administered 2,409 swab tests on Saturday, the health ministry data showed, with medical professionals also administering a total of 7,614 vaccine doses – a high number for a weekend day.

Data indicates that as of Saturday, 301,274 had received at least one vaccine dose, with 175,246 considered fully vaccinated. Medical sources have said that they expect Malta to reach its initial target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the eligible population – anyone over 16 – by the middle of next week.

Authorities have said that they consider a person to be ‘vaccinated’ in terms of data collection, even if they have only received one dose.

Vaccination is currently available to every resident aged 16 and over. Vaccine registration can be done online or via SMS. 

Speaking on Sunday, Prime Minister Robert Abela hailed Malta's vaccination programme as an example of EU-wide best practice and urged anyone who has yet to register for vaccination to do so as soon as possible. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.