[WATCH] 72-year old ITU patient recovers from COVID-19, 3 new cases

A 72 year-old COVID-19 patient who had previously been in intensive care has been discharged.

This emerged as Superintendent of Public Health Prof. Charmaine Gauci gave her daily briefing on the local COVID-19 situation.

On Tuesday, Malta registered three new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total of active cases up to 67. A total of 506 positives out of 44,655 swab tests. Yesterday alone, 1,341 tests were carried out, Gauci said.

The total number of recovered patients stood at 434 at last count.

The 72 year old patient who recovered had been on a ventilator in the ITU, she said. 

The three new cases are people who had contact with previous cases. Contact tracing led to a number of people being tested, of which three were positive.

Two of the new cases were healthcare workers, Gauci said. 30 healthcare workers have been infected in total since the beginning of the pandemic.

Fielding questions from the media, the superintendent said that Malta’s contact tracing procedure was proving effective.

“Social distancing is best measure and must remain until we have a vaccine. We can’t return to our old habits for the time being,” Gauci said, adding that the Superintendence of Public Health was in contact with the Ministry of Education on how best to reopen schools and what mitigation measures to take. Preparatory work was underway, but there were no plans to open schools as yet, she said.