Two out of every 10 cases of COVID-19 had no symptoms

Two out of every 10 patients with COVID-19 in Malta exhibited no symptoms, Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci has confirmed.

This is in line with similar trends abroad and shows how community spread of the virus may still be happening because people do not know they have the coronavirus.

Gauci said 20% of positive cases had no symptoms, of which 11% lived in the community. The rest were cases involving migrants living at the Hal Far open centre. The migrant centre has been under quarantine for almost four weeks and the asymptomatic cases were registered during random testing carried out on residents.

A 33-year-old Sudanese man who tested positive overnight had no symptoms. The man was tested as a matter of routine procedure after another man who lived in the same house had previously tested positive for coronavirus.

On Wednesday, two women also tested positive for COVID-19 despite exhibiting no symptoms. One was a 27-year-old woman who was tested as a matter of procedure before undergoing surgical intervention and the other was a 52-year-old woman who works at Mater Dei Hospital and tested positive during a routine screening test.

Malta has so far registered a total of 465 cases of COVID-19. Of these 351 have recovered and four have died. There are currently 110 active cases and most are recovering at home.

The transmission rate in Malta has remained stable with new daily cases registering single-number increases for a number of days.

The health authorities have so far remained coy on announcing a transition strategy to start lifting some of the restrictions. Gauci today warned people not to relax and maintain social distancing.