Shona Berger

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne said no new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, while 33 have recovered.

This was the first time it happened since the first case was registered on 7 March.

In all, 282 patients have recovered from a total of 448 cases.

Addressing the media, Fearne said these positive results were possible because of a strategy that was put in place at the right time and a list of measures that were implemented to contain the spread of the disease.

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We always insisted that we should aim to avoid a tsunami of cases and instead turn the spread into a river, and we have managed to achieve that, also because in their great majority the Maltese people obeyed the guidelines of the health authorities.

Fearne said that the pandemic is not over, as can be seen in other countries, who are facing a much more difficult situation.

He said that the measures that have been put in place in the past weeks will remain, but some of them will be relaxed in the coming days.

He said the measures will see the re-introduction of some of the health services that were stopped to allow the authorities to concentrate on the virus spread. The government will also see that gradually social life will be restored and economic activity re-activated.

The minister said that the public should continue to follow the instructions of the health authorities, also considering the possibility of a second wave of the virus, which also needs to be contained as much as possible.

He said that once the measures are relaxed, there is still the chance that they will be re-implemented if the situation gets worse.

Superintendent of Public Health Chief Charmaine Gauci followed by giving details on Coronavirus cases and the current situation in Malta.

Regarding the number of coronavirus cases Gauci said, "we first witnessed that the rate of cases was relatively high - cases that were imported from abroad. Then, we started to see that there were cases which were being transmitted from the people that came from abroad. Eventually this led to local transmission.

She added that "we have a situation in our country where the trend is slowly declining and we have now reached a plateau. Whether we there depends very much on the cooperation of the public."

The total number of cases registered in Malta so far is 448. Over 28,000 tests have been performed. "However, it is important to remember and take into consideration that out of all these cases, we still have a number of positive cases that we do not yet know about," Gauci said.

As for the recovered cases, Gauci said that "we have seen a great increase - 282 people have recovered while there are 162 active cases."

She added that those people who have recovered from this virus can go back to the community, but it is still very important to be cautious as research regarding the immunity of the virus is still ongoing.

Gauci said that 60% of those who tested positive were men. Many of those who tested positive were relatively young in age.

This shows that the measures taken to protect the elderly and the vulnerable are working, she said.

When looking at the geographical distribution, one notices that the Northern Harbour had the most cases of coronavirus - 151 positive cases.

Asked by The Malta Independent, whether he could confirm or deny that schools and childcare centres would be among the first to reopen, Minister Fearne said that, "for the time being we will not be announcing any lifting of measures as it is too early to do so."

He said, however, that if things remain as good as they currently are, there is the possibility of announcing the lifting of measures in the near future.

He also spoke about an app that will be launched in the coming days. "This app will help people determine whether they need to be tested or not. It will give the person information on whether one is at risk or not."

Gauci added that application is anonymous, therefore it will not invade people's privacy - no names will be recorded. Regarding a contact tracing app, Fearne said that "this is not yet ready to be introduced as further European research is being carried out."

Asked if the local situation is in line with predictions, Fearne said that "our plan has been successful, however it is very important that the public continues to cooperate and maintain discipline and social responsibility."