In her daily briefing, Prof Charmaine Gauci said that out of 1,392 tests, two new positive cases were identified, taking Malta’s count to 482. Four persons have recovered, meaning that 407 people are Covid-free, leaving the country with 72 active cases.
The two cases include a 30-year old Maltese woman who was not currently working. The second case concerns a Filipino carer who was in contact with the 81-year old who passed away yesterday. 15 patients from the same ward, and 56 other members of staff or persons in contact with this persons all resulted as negative.
Prof Gauci also gave an update on the situation at Hal Far village, where 50 immigrants were found positive. She said that 21 persons have fully recovered and withdrawn from quarantine. Another 19 had also tested free of the virus but will remain for a further seven days in quarantine. The other 10, who are still positive, remain under observation.
The Health Superintendent welcomed the fact that from on-site verification it transpired that generally businesses and the general public were cooperating on the social distancing requirements and use of face masks.
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An elderly person of 81 years is the 5th person who contracted Covid-19 to have died.
He already had other heart, respiratory, and kidney conditions. Swab tests on other patients recovering in the same theatre, and even on employees who had contact with him, are being carried out. Government expressed condolences to the person’s family. Health authorities continue to appeal for elderly persons who are 65 or older to leave their homes for essential reasons only.
>> 1,218 swabs have been carried out yesterday, resulting in two new positive cases. One of them was the 81-year old who passed away. The other person is a 44 year old Maltese. Four more persons have recovered, meaning that in Malta, we have had a total of 482 Covid-19 cases so far. Active cases have decreased to 74 cases.
>> The need to wear masks when shopping in retail outlets was stressed and insisted that the masks were to cover the nose, the mouth and the chin. The obligatory measure for a mask to be worn by each and every person entering an establishment, using public transport, or boarding Gozo Channel seacraft, was issued through the criteria established in the Public Health Act. However, health authorities are not there to issue fines.
>> Asked by the media about SkolaSajf, Professor Charmaine Gauci added that no decision has been taken yet in this regard. Addressing a press briefing earlier today, Education Minister Owen Bonnici said that Government was forging ahead with its preparations to launch the summer school on 1st July – but the final decision rested on health authorities.
>> Malta has contributed a €400,000 grant for the global fund-raising campaign against Covid-19. This campaign, presided by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, is intended to collect €7.4 billion to be used in research, prevention, and cure for the virus.
>> 7 persons were each fined €100 during the continuous rounds Police and Environmental Health Officers conducted to ensure that no gatherings in public places involving more than 4 persons take place, as per the legal notice issued by Government.
>> Since 31 December 2019 and as of 05 May 2020, 3 544 222 cases of COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries) have been reported, including 250 977 deaths.
Cases have been reported from:
Africa: 47 124 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are South Africa (7 220), Egypt (6 813), Morocco (5 043), Algeria (4 648) and Nigeria (2 802).
Asia: 567 862 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Turkey (127 659), Iran (98 647), China (83 966), India (46 433) and Saudi Arabia (28 656).
America: 1 513 928 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are United States (1 180 634), Brazil (107 780), Canada (60 772), Peru (47 372) and Ecuador (31 881).
Europe: 1 406 385 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Spain (218 011), Italy (211 938), United Kingdom (190 584), Germany (163 860) and Russia (145 268).
Oceania: 8 227 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Australia (6 825), New Zealand (1 137), Guam (149), French Polynesia (58) and Fiji (18).
Other: 696 cases have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Deaths have been reported from:
Africa: 1 845 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Algeria (465), Egypt (436), Morocco (179), South Africa (138) and Nigeria (93).
Asia: 19 991 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Iran (6 277), China (4 637), Turkey (3 461), India (1 568) and Indonesia (864).
America: 87 232 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are United States (68 934), Brazil (7 321), Canada (3 854), Mexico (2 271) and Ecuador (1 569).
Europe: 141 780 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Italy (29 079), United Kingdom (28 734), Spain (25 428), France (25 201) and Belgium (7 924).
Oceania: 122 deaths; the four countries reporting deaths are Australia (95), New Zealand (20), Guam (5) and Northern Mariana Islands (2).
Other: 7 deaths have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
>> As of 05 May 2020, 1 174 446 cases have been reported in the EU/EEA and the UK: Spain (218 011), Italy (211 938), United Kingdom (190 584), Germany (163 860), France (131 863), Belgium (50 267), Netherlands (40 770), Portugal (25 524), Sweden (22 721), Ireland (21 722), Austria (15 621), Poland (14 006), Romania (13 512), Denmark (9 670), Norway (7 847), Czechia (7 819), Finland (5 327), Luxembourg (3 828), Hungary (3 065), Greece (2 632), Croatia (2 101), Iceland (1 799), Estonia (1 703), Bulgaria (1 652), Slovenia (1 439), Lithuania (1 419), Slovakia (1 413), Latvia (896), Cyprus (874), Malta (480) and Liechtenstein (83).
>> As of 05 May 2020, 137 761 deaths have been reported in the EU/EEA and the UK: Italy (29 079), United Kingdom (28 734), Spain (25 428), France (25 201), Belgium (7 924), Germany (6 831), Netherlands (5 082), Sweden (2 769), Ireland (1 319), Portugal (1 063), Romania (803), Poland (698), Austria (600), Denmark (493), Hungary (363), Czechia (252), Finland (240), Norway (208), Greece (146), Slovenia (97), Luxembourg (96), Croatia (80), Bulgaria (78), Estonia (55), Lithuania (46), Slovakia (25), Cyprus (20), Latvia (16), Iceland (10), Malta (4) and Liechtenstein (1).
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