Where are the Covid-19 patients recovering?

Malta now has a registered total of 129 total cases of Covid-19, only two of whom have recovered.

One of the 129, who is elderly, is still unstable and is recovering at ITU.

But where are the other patients recovering? 

Superintendent of Public Health, Charmaine Gauci, told MaltaToday that only 10 patients are recovering at Mater Dei hospital. 

17 patients are recovering at the private St Thomas hospital in Qormi. 

The St Thomas management said that all the patients at the hospital are in good condition.

The other 83 patients are recovering at home. This figure does not include the 19 new cases registered today, as Gauci said that these are still being processed.

Patients isolated at home can do so, she said, because of their mild symptoms and are advised not to engage with other members of the household if any. 

In a social media post, the St Thomas management said: "In joining the common cause to defeat this virus, our role is to provide care to patients showing mild symptoms of the virus. In principle, we are doing it because we believe that at this delicate time our resources can be put to better use to combat this contagion.

"The patients received at St Thomas hospital are all in a fairly good condition and stable. In this regard, our healthcare professionals are directed to keep minimal exposure to reduce the risk of the spread of infection."

READ MORE: Malta registers 19 new cases of coronavirus, total goes up to 129 cases

Wednesday saw the highest number of registered cases in a single day, 19, with cases of local transmissions being higher than those imported, of which there were eight.

Of the eleven local transmissions, four are linked to known cases, while seven are not linked to any obvious source yet. 

One of the new cases involves an 81-year-old man, who is stable and is being kept at Mater Dei Hospital's Infectious Disease Unit.

In the last update, the Ministry for Health had said that 680 beds were available for Covid-19 patients, 49 of which are at the ITU.

The Ministry has recently also issued a call for the installation of a prefabricated hospital to be located close to Mater Dei hospital and which is capable of catering for 90 patients. It said that the hospital should be completed within eight weeks.