5 COVID-19 cases registered with 8 recoveries

May 23 2021

Malta has registered 5 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 2,409 swab tests, while 8 patients have recovered. No deaths were registered in the past 24 hours. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

As of Sunday 23rd May 2021, 468,829 vaccine doses were administered of which 301,274 were 1st doses. 175,246 people are currently fully vaccinated.

To date, Malta has registered 30,504 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 30,006 have recovered, 417 died and 81 are still active.

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Photo Source: Charmaine Gauci FB

‘Partying Black Market’ due to failure to reopen entertainment sector

May 23 2021

DJ Andrew Pace, a.k.a Pocci, posted to social media to show how failure to open up the entertainment and cultural sectors safely has encouraged the emergence of a black market of partying. Accompanied by a photo of masses of people huddled up in what seems to be an illegal gathering in open air, Pace directed his message at Prime Minister Robert Abela, Superintendent of Public Health Prof. Charmaine Gauci, and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne.

He stated how the regulations in place are causing said black market which, ‘by definition […] can not be regulated or at the very least is much more difficult to regulate.’ He went on to state that ‘the result will be much worse than if you were to encourage and allow regulated partying that all-but guarantees proper monitoring of people’s health.’

He asked the authorities to open their eyes as the lack of interest in the industry will only ‘bite [authorities] in the a**’. Pace said people are fed up and refuse to stay in and therefore a regulated, safe approach to normality is necessary.

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Photo Source: Andrew Pace FB, @poccigram IG

Pfizer BioNTech vaccine safe against COVID-19 Indian variant

May 23 2021

The SE of pharmaceutical company BioNTech stated on Thursday that the COVID-19 vaccine developed in association with Pfizer should be as effective in dealing with the Indian variant of COVID-19 as it was with the South African variant. Blood analysis of vaccinated individuals indicated that the antibodies elicited by the jab were able to combat the mutated virus.

Chief Executive Ugur Sahin stated that the company had the opportunity to test the vaccine against more than 30 variants, some of minor threat and others, such as the South African variant, a far more transmissible mutation. The vaccine proved effective against them all so far, despite this particular variant being more transmissible and far deadlier than its parent virus.

#MaltaDaily

Photo Source: Financial Times

Only 23 cases in past week with zero deaths in a fortnight

May 23 2021

Malta has only registered 23 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, with the amount of active cases well below 100. There have also been no deaths for two consecutive weeks, showing not only that the health restrictions and vaccine rollout has its desired effect, but also signifying an easing on the health and medical system which has been tirelessly working to safeguard lives.

Statistician Vince Marmara also stated that the r-factor for COVID-19 stands at around 0.28, which is the lowest since the pandemic first made its unwelcome debut. Marmara told The Malta Independent that when ‘one compares the new cases to the number of swab tests that are being taken, one can see that the percentage has continued to decrease’ at a 0.2% positivity rate.

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Photo Source: Vincent Marmara FB, LoveHolidays