[WATCH] COVID-19: Record 258 cases recorded in past 24 hours

258 new cases of COVID-19 were registered on Friday, the health ministry has said, the highest ever number registered in 24 hours.

This brings the total number of cases to 21,982. There are currently 2,582 active COVID-19 cases.

73,644 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered until Tuesday, of which 23,395 were second doses.   

Total recoveries stand at 19,087.

Two deaths were registered in the last 24-hours. An 83-year-old female and a 76-year-old man died at Mater Dei Hospital.

The total number of deaths now stands at 313.

3,640 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of swabs to 691,614.

Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said that authorities were continuously monitoring the situation in other countries and was classifying as red or amber those with a high positivity rate. Asked whether Malta should consider implementing a soft lockdown in view of the high number of cases being registered and the increasing number of visitors from abroad, Gauci said monitoring other countries' case count and spread of variants was being done to mitigate the risk of infection from people visiting from those countries.

On the lifting of restrictive measures at the residential homes, Gauci that at least 90% of a home's residents will need to have taken both doses and that at least ten days have passed before restrictions can be lifted.

Vaccination rollout

Gauci said that the vaccination rollout was proceeding as planned.

Educators are receiving their jab in the afternoon while lecturers are receiving their jab in the morning.

Vulnerable individuals are still receiving their appointments and are receiving their jab at Mater Dei Hospital.

The vaccination of non-medical essential workers is also on track. From 8 March, individuals aged 75 and over will start receiving their first dose.

Individuals aged between 80 and 84 years who do not receive their appointment next week should contact 145.

People working in clinical settings, residential care homes and people aged over 85 years old have received at least their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Gauci said that there are currently 61 patients infected with the UK variant of COVID-19. There is still only one known case of the South African variant which was imported.

Clusters were mainly discovered around households, with 484 cases. There were 219 cases from social gatherings and 127 cases from workplaces.

The average age of persons contracting Covid is 38.