[WATCH] Four new cases of coronavirus, more people recovering

Public health superintendent Chairmane Gauci announced four new cases of coronavirus, three of which hailed from inside the quarantined migrant reception centre of Hal Far.

Another eight cases of coronavirus patients were reported to have recovered.

Malta has now carried out over 23,000 swab tests, an average of almost 600 every day.

Malta now has 324 active cases. Gauci called on people to continue respecting social distancing despite the low number of cases, insisting that Malta had such low numbers because measures and restrictions were being correctly adhered to.

Taking questions from journalists, the public health superintendent said that the more controlled the virus is, the better the chance is of creating a vaccine. Research is still underway in this regard, she said.

Gauci said Malta still needed to wait a little longer to see whether it should lift measures, pointing to Japan which had to hastily reintroduce restrictions after lifting them too early. Decisions like this must be backed by evidence, Gauci said.

Final preparations to the last 44 #Covid_19 #ITU beds - a total of 125 ITU beds (up from 20) at Mater Dei alone. Please, please help us keep them empty #StayIn #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/jpexz0Lk1o

— Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne) April 18, 2020

It was true that the number of infections in Malta is small, she said, but stressed the need for the public to continue to follow the prescribed measures in order to reduce their chances of meeting infected persons. 

“We will be sure of having reached plateau when we see a steadily reducing number of cases,” she said.

Asked if she feared a secondary wave of infections, Gauci said other countries were also following the situation with this in mind and preparing to mitigate it. One could only monitor the situation at this stage, she said.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced that 125 ITU beds had been added to Mater Dei Hospital, up from 20. "Please help us keep them empty," he said.