[WATCH] 13 new cases of coronavirus brings total to 169

Malta has registered 13 new cases of coronavirus overnight, bucking the low trend of recent days.

The total of Covid-19 infections now stands at 169.

Two people were transferred out of intensive therapy but two remain, including a 72-year-old man who is on a ventilator.

All new patients are doing fine, Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said at the daily Covid-19 bulletin on Tuesday.

The health authorities carried out 563 swabbing tests overnight with total number of tests carried out so far totalling 6,934.

The new cases include eight local transmission and five who contracted the virus abroad, mostly in the UK.

A cluster of five from the local transmissions contracted the infection through a work colleague who had already been positive for Covid-19.

The new cases also include the 71 and 72-year-old parents of a person who had registered positive.

An eight-year-old girl was also confirmed positive overnight. She is the daughter of a person who had registered positive for the coronavirus.

Gauci reiterated her appeal for people to obey social distancing orders and stay inside their home as much as possible to avoid local transmission.

Over the past few days Malta was registering single-digit numbers for new cases. Today's development indicates that the risk of local transmission remains high and the situation could rapidly turn to the worse if clusters of people get infected at the same time.

Gauci said people who feel symptoms should self-isolate immediately and wait for the test results at home.

The government yesterday introduced new restrictive measures on public gatherings of more than three people. Police are now empowered to fine anyone in groups of four and more. The fine stands at €100 per person.