New machine at Mater Dei can perform 800 COVID-19 tests a day

In the coming hours, a machine capable of testing 800 samples each day for COVID-19 will start being used.

The robotic machine, which will be housed at Mater Dei’s Pathology Department, can process test results within minutes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne - who was visiting the Pathology Department on Thursday as the final preparations for the machine to be put in use were being made - said Malta was benefitting from such advanced machinery because the government had made all necessary investment in this regard in a timely manner.

Malta, he said, was one of the first countries in Europe which would have access to such a machine.

“The more tests we carry out at this early stage, the more we will be in a position to offer immediate care to COVID-19 patients and to isolate them promptly so as to prevent viral spread,” Fearne said.