COVID-19: Deaths at 21 after patient passes away in home for the elderly

An 86-year-old man is Malta’s 21st victim of coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced on Sunday.

The health ministry said the man contracted the virus on the 14 September, and was being cared for at the elderly home where he died.

He had underlying health conditions.

This is the fourth death over the weekend, after three people died from the virus on Saturday.

32 new cases of COVID-19 were registered on Sunday.

30 recoveries were registered, bringing the total number of active cases to 664.

2,196 swab tests have been carried out during the pandemic, bringing the total number of swabs since the pandemic began to 231,448.

The total number of cases now stands at 2,731, while recoveries number 2,047.

The health ministry said today’s cases are still being investigated, while from yesterday’s cases 19 were family members of previously known cases.

Two cases were direct contacts of previously known cases, one was from the St Joseph Home cluster, four were from the Casa Antonia home and four were work colleagues of a previously known case.

COVID-19 app receives 45,000 downloads

Health minister Chris Feanre said that in the span of two days, government’s recently launched COVID-19 alert app was downloaded by over 45,000 individuals.

Developed by the Ministry for Health, MITA and the Malta Digital Innovation Authority, this app will allow those who have downloaded it to be notified electronically and anonymously if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive.

A proximity event is recorded when a person is in close distance with another app user. If one of the users is identified as a positive case of COVID-19, those who were within close proximity of the case will be alerted through the app.