Charmaine Gauci blasted certain social media users for publishing false information about the recent COVID-19 patient who died this morning.

Rumours circulating on social media this morning claimed that the patient was undergoing cancer treatment and came from an elderly home.

But when asked by Lovin Malta to clarify whether the patient was a cancer patient from a care home as claimed, Gauci stressed that this was completely false.

“This shouldn’t happen – we must respect the family and authorities and journalists must be held responsible,” she said in her weekly COVID-19 press conference.

“I am very disappointed that this potentially sensitive information was reported about a patient who just passed away, even before health authorities announced it,” she lamented, urging the public to avoid unofficial sources.

A 72-year-old COVID-19 patient with prior medical conditions passed away this morning while being treated in hospital.

The man is the 10th COVID-19 fatality in Malta since the outbreak begun in March.

Meanwhile, Malta registered 36 new cases of COVID-19 today along with 52 new recoveries in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases down to 682.