Malta’s Covid-19 reproduction number now stands at 1.55 after the number of cases found in the past week increased once again, statistician Vincent Marmara told The Malta Independent on Sunday in his exclusive weekly video blog on the Covid-19 situation in Malta.

The reproduction factor of the virus is one of the key figures which countries across the world have been trying to reduce ever since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The aim for countries has been to reduce the ratio to a level of 1 – which would mean that one person would transmit the virus to one other person.

The reproduction number is based on a variety of factors, such as the source of new cases – for instance, whether they are imported or whether they are part of particular clusters – and the amount of testing being carried out.

A total of 1,305 cases were reported in the last week – a substantial increase over the 1,058 reported the previous week, Marmara said.

However, he noted that the number of tests has increased significantly as well, to the point that the number of positive cases when compared to the number of tests has actually decreased marginally from 5.5% to 5.4% in the past week.

With six deaths reported in the last week, it is the lowest number of deaths reported for over 10 weeks. However, Marmara noted that this is a reflection of the reduction in cases prior to the festive period, and said that this figure will likely increase in the coming weeks owing to the increase in cases.

The number of people who have recovered from the virus has increased to 703, compared to 631 in the previous week; but this is only 54% of the number of cases found during the same period.

As a result of the above, the reproduction factor currently stands at 1.55.

Turning his eye to Europe, Marmara noted how there were decreases in cases in Italy, Germany, and also the United Kingdom.  Cases in France remained at a stable level, while there was a significant increase in recent days in Spain.

Concluding, Marmara said that statistically, Malta is amongst the front-runners in vaccinating the public when compared to other European countries.  He said that this is encouraging as the more people are vaccinated, the more the spread of the virus will be restricted.

However, till a suitable number of people have been vaccinated, Marmara urged caution and for the public to continue to consider the risks of its actions and movements in order not to put themselves or anyone else in danger of the virus.

Source: Malta Independent