Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1371118
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 MAY 2021 NEWS MALTA registered six new cases and 15 recoveries on Tuesday, according to statis- tics from the Health Ministry. As a result, active cases now stand at 204. There have been 30,464 total cases of COVID-19 in Malta, of which 29,843 patients re- covered. The death toll remains at 417. 1,600 swab tests were car- ried out on Monday, contrib- uting to a total 886,909 swab tests carried out since the start of the outbreak. Up until Monday, 386,760 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered, of which 265,361 were a first dose. In turn, 123,843 persons are fully vaccinated, or 28.6% of the population. COVID-19: Cases continue to decline with six new infections CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The only blip was last Sunday and this is probably attributable to the fact that it happened to be Mother's Day. The latest available data, which is for last Monday, shows that 265,361 first doses had been ad- ministered, while 123,843 peo- ple were fully vaccinated. Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said last week that herd immunity will be reached when 70% of the adult population would have received its first dose. Health Minister Chris Fearne said in parliament yesterday that one dose would provide a level of immunity that contrib- utes to less severe symptoms if a person contracts the virus. If the daily 1% increase is maintained, Malta can expect to have all its adult population vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least one dose by 18 June. The rollout of second doses has seen a 1% increase every other day, which means that at the current rate, by today week, 33% of the population would be fully vaccinated. If this vaccination rate is maintained Malta could hope to achieve the EU target of having 70% of its adult population ful- ly-vaccinated (with two doses or the Janssen shot) by the end of July. Improving or regressing from the target depends on the time- ly delivery of vaccines. Malta is currently using the four vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency – Pfizer-BioNtech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). Herd immunity is when a sub- stantial proportion of a popula- tion is vaccinated thus lowering the overall amount of virus able to spread in the community. The percentage of people who need to be immune in order to achieve herd immunity varies with each disease. According to the World Health Organisation the pro- portion of the population that must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to induce herd im- munity is not known. This is an area where research is ongoing. However, the 70% coverage is being considered by European health authorities as a plausible target to start achieving a sem- blance of normality. Malta is relaxing restrictive measures in a gradual approach as coronavirus infections and hospitalisations drop. The tough measures were in- troduced in March as the coun- try battled a surge of cases that put hospital facilities under strain. Yesterday, Malta recorded on- ly six new infections as active cases continued to drop to 204. All adults to have received at least one jab by 18 June