A ward at Mount Carmel Hospital has been shut down after a health worker tested positive for COVID-19.

Sources said the worker is one of the seven people who tested positive for the virus after an all-weekend 'Hotel Takeover' party at the Radisson Blu Hotel in St Julian's. 

Sources said that the ward had to be closed as a precaution because the staff member had turned up for work after the party.

Health authorities have appealed to anyone who attended the event to get tested. Hotel staff have also been tested and the hotel has been cleaned.

Events like last weekend's party are legal in Malta after restrictions on large scale events were lifted last month.

On Thursday, the alarm was raised when a man who attended the three-day event tested positive for coronavirus.

The following day, six more people were also confirmed to be COVID-19 patients - five had partied with the first patient and the sixth is a relative. The Mount Carmel Hospital staff member is one of this latest cluster. 

Another weekend-long party, Offline WKD, set to take place at the same hotel from Friday afternoon has been cancelled - a decision the Radisson said it had taken "out of an abundance of caution".

The six cases represent a spike in coronavirus cases, with Friday's tally being the highest daily number of new cases recorded in over a month.

It comes as the World Health Organisation expressed concern about a surge in COVID-19 in Europe and called on countries to impose tighter restrictions if necessary.