Another 111 new COVID-19 cases were registered in the past 24 hours, as 199 patients recovered.

The new cases were found from 3,693 swab tests.

No new deaths were recorded, meaning there are currently 1,972 active cases in Malta.

Of these, 36, up from 33 on Thursday, are being treated at Mater Dei Hospital, including one at the Intensive Treatment Unit.

Health authorities have said a quarter of the hospital patients as of Monday have no symptoms.

The asymptomatic patients were already vaccinated and in Mater Dei for other health reasons and were found to be positive following routine testing for the virus.

Overall, just under half of the hospital patients are vaccinated while half are not. 

The average age of Thursday's cases was 33.

Data collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control released on Thursday showed that Malta's COVID-19 death rate is no longer the lowest in Europe, following three virus-linked deaths in the past week.

Vaccination

A total of 379,016 people are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with a total of 755,655 doses administered over the past months.

According to Health Minister Chris Fearne, the day when COVID-19 is treated as a “mild disease” is nearing, virus variants permitting. 

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