Update 2 | Woman, 92, is COVID-19’s 31st victim in Malta, 29 new cases announced

The health ministry announced Malta’s 31st death from COVID-19 was a 92-year-old woman, a resident at an unidentified care home.

The elderly woman was confirmed positive for the disease on 15 September and died during the night. 

The official statement said the woman “had underlying health conditions."

Whilst expressing its sympathy to the family members of the woman, the ministry appealed to the public to adhere to ministry guidelines on hand-washing and the use of masks to help stop the spread of the virus.

The health ministry announced that it had registered 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. Six cases were family members of other infected cases and two were from direct contact with other positive cases. One case was from social gatherings, another was imported and 3 cases came from Casa San Paolo home for the elderly, said the ministry this morning.

But later this afternoon, Casa San Paolo published a Facebook post insisting that it is COVID-19 free and that the government statistics were "not updated."

Contacted by the MaltaToday, a CareMalta spokesperson confirmed that "Casa San Paolo is Covid-free"  and said the health authorities would be issuing a correction shortly.