Recovered COVID-19 residents of the Ħal Far Open Centre will not return to the facility, Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci.

All positive cases have been isolated from the rest of the population and are currently housed within a Red Cross Medical Centre at the facility.

Gauci explained that once they recover, patients will remain in quarantine at the medical centre for another 7 days before being released.

With COVID-19 still spreading in the centre, the recovered residents will not return to their containers. However, Gauci did not give more details on where they will be homed, whether that’s another centre or alternative accommodation.

The Ħal Far Open Centre is officially the country’s COVID-19 hotspot with 43 cases, and the figure has steadily increased ever since the first resident tested positive for the virus two weeks ago.

 A mandatory quarantine has been placed on the centre, with guards on high alert outside its walls. A man tried to escape twice this morning.

Residents have raised concerns that preventative measures aren’t being enforced among the 1,000 strong population.

A series of photos and videos published by Lovin Malta showed how large groups of people still occupy the centre’s very limited public spaces.

The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers has backed the measures taken so far.