Malta yesterday confirmed its largest spike in new COVID-19 patients since the start of the pandemic but the lack of fatalities means no other country worldwide has recorded more cases without a single death.

With 52 new cases recorded yesterday, Malta now has a total of 293 cases, overtaking Vietnam, which was previously the country which had the most number of cases without a single death.

The French overseas territory of Réunion has also confirmed more cases (349) without a single death but France itself has confirmed over 10,000 deaths.

Malta confirmed its first COVID-19 case on 7th March and the numbers have remained relatively low since then, never rising above 20 new cases a day. However, it suddenly spiked to 52 new cases yesterday, raising fears that the worst is yet to come for the island.

Health Minister Chris Fearne said the spike didn’t take the health authorities by surprise and that they were actually expecting Malta to reach these numbers last week.