Relatives of an elderly man who died yesterday after contracting COVID-19 have warned that the official version of events got his hospitalisation date wrong.

In its statement yesterday, the Health Ministry said the man, the twelfth COVID-19 patient to die in Malta since the start of the pandemic, had tested positive for the coronavirus on 24th August after he was admitted to hospital on 23rd August.

“As is procedure for every hospital admission, the man was swabbed and tested positive after which he received treatment at Mater Dei,” it said. “He had underlying health problems.”

However, the victim’s family sent a statement to the press today to warn that the dates were inaccurate.

Indeed, they said he was actually admitted to hospital on 9th August for a separate health related issue, was swabbed for COVID-19 and tested negative.

They said he remained in hospital throughout and his condition improved to the point where he was about to be discharged, but he developed a fever and tested positive for COVID-19.

Moreover, they questioned why the official version of events listed the man’s age as 86 when he had actually just turned 85,

One of the relatives told Lovin Malta that the family had no idea why these details weren’t included in the official version of events and said they suspect he must have got infected while in hospital.

Questions sent to the Health Ministry remain unanswered as of the time of writing.