Europe surpasses 1 million COVID-19 deaths

Apr 16 2021

The grim milestone of 1 million deaths due to COVID-19 has been surpassed by Europe, as stated by a top official from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The situation is still very serious as 1.6 million new cases are being reported each week in this region. A tally by Johns Hopkins University shows nearly 3 million deaths have been linked to the virus globally – Americas are the hardest hit, followed by Europe.

France’s death toll rose to more than 100,000 on Thursday. The country, with its population of 67 million, is the eighth nation worldwide to reach the mark. The USA, Brazil and Mexico have reported the highest number of deaths, which collectively exceed 1.1 million.

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27 COVID-19 cases registered with 30 recoveries

Apr 16 2021

Malta has registered 27 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 1,883 swab tests, while 30 patients have recovered. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

As of Friday 16th April 2021, 264,658 vaccine doses were administered of which 80,671 were 2nd doses.

To date, Malta has registered 29,860 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 28,872 have recovered, 405 died and 583 are still active.

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Call for minimum age on legal cannabis use by family doctors

Apr 16 2021

The Association of Private Family Doctors (APFD) has stated that decriminalisation of cannabis can lead to the use of other illicit drugs and thus called to establish a minimum age for legal cannabis use. The association recognises the need for the substance’s decriminalisation in small quantities, but it could lead to an increase in overall consumption and use of other illicit drugs.

With the government’s launch of a public consultation process on the White Paper to strengthen the legal framework on the responsible use, the APFD stated that use of cannabis in young brains has more harmful effects, alongside the risk of dependence and the move to harder illicit drugs. The APFD also suggested increased campaigns of educational content targeted at vulnerable groups.

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Pfizer makes up 68% of vaccine doses administered in Malta

Apr 16 2021

The Malta Independent has been informed that 68% of the vaccine doses administered in Malta up until last Sunday were Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The figures were provided by the Health Ministry and show that along with 28% being AstraZeneca and 4% being Moderna, Pfizer makes up the bulk of administered vaccines. Translated numerically, 166,244 were Pfizer vaccines.

As for the other vaccine brands, 68,147 were AstraZeneca and 10,327 Moderna. The figures do not however specify whether the doses were first or second doses and how many people received each vaccine. The number of people fully vaccinated with the Pfizer is higher than those vaccinated with other vaccines. This is due to waiting period, with Pfizer requiring only three-week gaps, significantly lower than the others.

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