A Maltese person has tested positive for Coronavirus, the government said.
He is the sixth person to have tested positive for Coronavirus in Malta, the first Maltese. The other five are a family of three – the parents and a daughter – and a father and daughter, and all were foreigners.
The man, a doctor at Mater Dei Hospital, was on holiday in the northern part of Italy in the past days, the government said. Like all other cases, this Coronavirus case was “imported” from Italy.
The man is in good condition, the government said.
In a press briefing, Charmaine Gauci, health superintendent, said the man is 55 years old. He travelled to Treviso on 1 March and returned on 8 March. A day later, he started to feel unwell and on 10 March he developed a fever.
He contacted the health authorities and, after tests were carried out, he resulted to be positive to Coronavirus.
Since his return from Italy, he was in self-quarantine and did not go to work, obeying instructins given by the health authorities, Gauci said.
Gauci emphasised that the man had not reported for work upon arrival in Malta, and that since he had shown symptoms only a day after arriving in Malta, it was certain that he had contracted the virus from Italy. Therefore, she stressed, there remains no risk of transmission at Mater Dei Hospital.
She added that the man stayed away from other members of the family. Nonetheless, she said that the man’s family – a family of five including the man – are in mandatory quarantine as they are considered to be at high-risk of contracting the disease because of close contact with a symptomatic person.
He did not go to work and contracted the virus from Italy, she emphasised. There is no way that he could have contracted the disease locally.
Gauci said that the man’s son, who also travelled to Italy, also self-quarantined and did not go to school. He has developed no symptoms, and together with the rest of the family is now in obligatory quarantine.
A second Maltese family is also being followed by the health authorities because they were in northern Italy at the same time, but so far none of them is experiencing any symptoms.
Asked by this newsroom whether any measures were being taken to ensure that public transportation is cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis, Gauci replied in the positive, stating that they are communicating with other entities, and that public transportation entities have already implemented measures for more ventilation on their vehicles.
She said that this subject ties in with the concept of responsibility insofar as that people who are sick should not go out of the house. She also appealed for people to wash their hands more freuqnelty and use sanitisers such as alcohol gels or wipes when touching somewhere where there may have been the microbes, as it is important as a preventive measure.
Gauci reminded people of the measures imposed on social gatherings, noting the restrictions now placed on crowds – these being of not exceeding 2,000 people outdoor and 750 people indoor.
She said that those who are swabbed at the new centre in Luqa are instructed to stay at home until results emerge, and also noted that those Maltese who are arriving from Rome between yesterday and today have been instructed to self-quarantine as well.