Five new coronavirus cases were detected overnight after a record 637 swab tests, the superintendent for public health, Charmaine Gauci, said on Monday.

Three of the newly-confirmed cases were related to travel and the other two were local transmission. All patients are in a good condition. One of the imported cases is a patient currently in Gozo.

Gauci said that four patients are receiving intensive care at the hospital’s ITU unit, with one on a ventilator. Five are being treated in the Infectious Diseases Unit and 17 are at St Thomas Hospital. The rest are isolated at their homes. Spot checks are made to ensure no one leaves home.

Case details

Case 1

A Maltese man, 30, who returned from Mexico and displayed symptoms a few days later. He was in quarantine and had no further contacts.

Case 2

A woman, 64, who was also was abroad and on her return was in quarantine.

Case 3

A Maltese 30-year-old man who is a healthcare worker. He returned from the UK and went to work as quarantine requirements were not in force. Contact tracing is underway.

Case 4

A  Maltese woman, 35, who was in contact with two family members who are also showing symptoms. 

Case 5

Another Maltese woman, 44 who lost her sense of taste on March 22. She had been going to work and contact tracing is under way. 

Gauci warned that not much should be read into the numbers since more cases are expected and Malta is still early in the curve of expected cases.

She said that following the call for vulnerable and elderly people to stay at home, vulnerable people (suffering chronic illnesses) had been notified by mail.

Those having any doubts should contact the authorities on email covid19.vulnerable@gov.mt

"The vulnerable should stay at home and other people should leave home only for essential purposes," Gauci stressed.

Fluctuating number of new cases

The first coronavirus cases in Malta were confirmed on March 7 and involved a 12-year-old girl and her parents.

New cases have since been reported every day, with the highest being on Wednesday, March 25 when 19 new cases were reported.

Data on new cases has fluctuated over the past week. There were 17 new cases on Monday, March 23, three the following day and then the high of 19 last Wednesday.

Numbers then eased to five on Thursday and Friday, climbed to 10 on Saturday and were back down to two on Sunday, when the total of cases reached 151. 

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