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Milestone of over 250,000
COVID-19 swabs reached
We’ve hit the quarter of a million mark, announced Health Minister Chris Fearne yesterday.
The impressive figure continues to place Malta surprisingly far ahead of its European counterparts, including the UK, Greece, Italy and Germany. In fact, when it comes to testing for COVID-19, Malta currently ranks as the fifth country in the world, with the highest amount of swab tests.
Photo: ourworldindata.org
According to ourworldindata.org, in terms of daily tests per 1000 people, we’re fifth on the list. Beating us to it is the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Luxembourg and Denmark.
“Today, we’ve surpassed a quarter of a million swab tests. Malta is the fifth country in the world with the highest amount of swab tests. This means we can catch positive patients immediately, isolate them to mimimise the community spread. It is important that we remain responsible, wear masks, keep social distancing, wash our hands, and if don’t feel well, we call 111,” Fearne said in a live video, acknowledging all the frontliners, working in all aspects, facets and sectors, to combat COVID-19.
The islands have been praised repeatedly for its high level of testing. Both Fearne and Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci have said that it’s a key part of Malta’s strategy to fight the virus.
