COVID positivity rate lowest since March following record rise

Malta’s COVID-19 positivity rate has plummeted to the lowest figure since March, fresh EU data shows.
At just 5.9 per cent, the rate is also currently the lowest in Europe, according to a weekly report by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The report covers the situation during the week ending July 31.
The drop comes just weeks after Malta’s rate spiked to over 40 per cent, a record since the pandemic hit the island in March 2020.
The positivity rate – the number of infections detected from the total number of tests carried out – had dwindled to around five per cent in March before picking up and increasing in the months that followed. The rate finally started dropping earlier in July.

The positivity rate reported by the ECDC only includes tests carried out by the authorities since those infections detected through home testing kits are not included in the official tally.
The health authorities are carrying out an average of almost 1,000 tests daily.
Along with the positivity rate, Malta’s hospital admissions rate has also dropped significantly in recent weeks.
According to the ECDC data this fell to 4.1 patients per 100,000 people.
This rate was among...