Update 3 | Three COVID-19 patients, all elderly, pass away, 65 new cases

Three elderly patients have passed away due to COVID-19, the health ministry has announced.

The patients are a 72-year-old woman, who was admitted to Mater Dei on 11 August and tested positive to COVID-19 on 12 August. She was transferred to the ITU on 15 August.

The other patient is an 86-year-old woman who passed away in ITU, after testing positive on 8 September, and admitted to the ITU on 16 September.

The third patient is an 85-year-old male patient, who was admitted to hospital on 12 September, where he resulted positive to COVID-19 and was admitted to the infectious diseases unit. He had underlying medical conditions.

The ministry extended its sympathies to the families of the three patients.

Malta registered 65 new cases overnight, to bring its total of active COVID-19 cases to 662. There were 21 new recoveries, for a total of 2,017 versus a total of 2,699 COVID-19 cases. 2,922 swabs were taken over the past 24 hours, for a total of 229,252.

So far there have been 20 deaths from COVID-19. The cases are still being investigated.

10 cases were family members of previously known cases, three were direct contacts of other positive cases; three cases were from the St Joseph Home cluster, one from the Casa Antonia home cluster; another case was of a work colleague of a previously known case, and one was from a social gathering with other positive cases.

The health ministry has regularly appealed for everyone to abide by regulation aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus, including the regular sanitisation of hands and the use of masks.

Addressing the media following a press conference on Friday, Health Minister Chris Fearne called for solidarity with the elderly and vulnerable.

“The sacrifice of the elderly to keep a distance from others shouldn’t be borne by them alone, but there should be solidarity between us to take care of each other,” he said.

Fearne also reiterated his stance on schools reopening, emphasising that the health ministry will do whatever possible to help the education department to have schools reopen in a safe and secure manner.

“The consequence of a whole generation of children missing a whole year of formal education is big. When one considers how short childhood is and how much one learns in just a year, as well as how that time never comes back, having a whole generation of children not attending school will have its consequences,” Fearne said.