[WATCH] COVID-19: Tombola event for elderly led to eight cases and forced 70 in preventive quarantine

COVID-19 update for 30 December | 1 death • 124 new cases, 138 recoveries • 1,392 active cases • Swab tests past 24 hours 3,043 • 164 people treated in hospitals, including 12 in ITU • Bars and social clubs to remain shut until 1 February

Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci
Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci

Malta has registered one death and 124 new cases of COVID-19 overnight, the latest data published by the health authorities shows.

Giving her weekly coronavirus update, Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said that over the past week a cluster of eight elderly people who attended a tombola and lunch tested positive, leading to a group of 70 other elderly people who attended the same event to be placed in preventive quarantine.

She again appealed for such events to be avoided and urged people to shun family gatherings.

There are 164 people receiving treatment for COVID-19 at hospitals, 12 of who are recovering at Mater Dei Hospital's intensive therapy unit.

Patients treated in hospitals | 12 ITU • 8 Infectious Diseases Unit • 43 other wards Mater Dei • 14 Boffa Hospital • 7 St Thomas Hospital • 73 Good Shepherd Hospital • 2 Mount Carmel Hospital • 5 Gozo General Hospital

New variant detected

Gauci said that all people who returned from the UK since 13 December were tested for COVID-19 and eight cases were detected in this way.

Three of these cases had the new more infectious COVID variant that was first found in the UK. Two of these were foreigners and one was a Maltese national.

She said these people are in quarantine.

Community transmission

The latest data shows that the seven-day moving average recorded 90 cases per day over the past week with a higher propensity of cases among those aged between 25 and 34. The average age of people with coronavirus now stands at 43.

Gauci said the data was a reflection of community transmission with a substantial number of clusters being traced back to households. However, in line with what the authorities were predicting, there were 37 cases linked to social gatherings, which included the seven elderly cases traced back to a tombola event.

Bars to remain shut

Gauci said bars and social clubs will remain closed until the 1 February as the legal notice will be renewed. She said inspections were being carried out on outlets to ensure that they are following safety measures.

Schools reopening

Asked whether schools should go online for a short while after the Christmas holidays, given the expected increase in cases, Gauci said this was not necessary. She said there were very few school transmissions over the past months, even when new cases increased, because of the very good mitigation measures adopted by schools.

However, she appealed to parents of school children to take care of unnecessary exposure to risk during the holidays.

Vaccine

Gauci did not say how many people in Malta had received the vaccine so far, despite repeated questions from journalists. She said the planned roll out was moving ahead as planned and there was no intention so far of amending the list of priorities.

She said that no side effects from the vaccine were notified by those health workers who had received it so far. "In the US and UK, where the number of vaccinations are much higher, the predominent side-effects were redness in the area of where the injection was administered and tiredness for a couple of days," she said.

Gauci added that the benefits from the vaccine far outweighed the possible side-effects.