Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1348867
WEDNESDAY • 10 MARCH 2021 CONTACT Adriana Farrugia or Erika Arrigo on 21382741 for sponsorship opportunities 248 new cases of COVID-19 were registered on Tues- day, the health ministry has said. 101,776 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered until Monday. Of these, 34,181 were second doses. Total recoveries stand at 21,477 while total cases registered stand at 24,847. There are currently 3,035 active COVID-19 cases. One person died in the last 24-hours. An 88-year- old man, who died at a private residence. The total number of deaths is 335. 4,470 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of swabs to 733,474. COVID-19 One death and 248 new cases MALTA has the highest rate of full coronavirus vaccine coverage within the European Union, ac- cording to data compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. With 5.9% of the Maltese population having re- ceived the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Malta is ahead of Poland with 4.6% and Iceland with 4.5%. The data covers EU countries and the Europe- an Economic Area. Malta also has the highest first dose rate, with 13.5% of the population having received the first dose, followed by Denmark with 10.6% and Cyprus with 9.7%. As of Tuesday, Malta administered 101,776 dos- es of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which 34,181 were second doses. The three COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the EU so far – Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca – require people to take two doses a number of weeks apart. The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve a fourth vaccine produced by Janssen on Thursday. This vaccine requires only one shot. Malta has seen a recent surge in COVID-19 cas- es, with 248 new cases being registered today along with one death. Malta maintains highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in EU Infectious Disease Unit nurse Rachel Grech was the first nurse at Mater Dei to get vaccinated against COVID-19