The Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) held an informative meeting with social partners regarding the government’s work on the coronavirus. The government felt that is was pertinent that social partners are informed on the ongoing preparations at a national level. The meeting was led by the MCESD Chairperson John Bencini.
In an opening address, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela stated that the government is addressing this issue in a serious manner. He stressed with social partners that “whilst we have to be prepared at our utmost, alarm should not be created. We should be coordinated not only as a government, but also as social partners”.
Minister Abela called on social partners to pass the message amongst their members to follow the health advices emanating from the Department of Health, to not rely on speculations but rather on facts.
The Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar gave an account of the coordinated work being held between government ministries on a national level for any evenuality. He explained that, while Cabinet has already appointed a strategic committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, an operational committee in the Office of the Prime Minister has been formed to coordinate, together with the Ministry for Health, the necessary work related to coronavirus. Through this operational committee, led by Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar, stem a number of working groups which are meeting on a regular basis to tackle from the communications aspect to economic and commercial activity, essential services and transport, among others. Furthermore, widespread preparations are being carried out by the Ministry for Health in public hospitals and other services it leads.
Mr Cutajar spoke about the government’s communication plan being run by the Department of Information within the Office of the Prime Minister to ensure that information collected by the Department of Health and latest worldwide developments are communicated to the public in a structured way.
The Superintendent of Public Health Professor Charmaine Gauci explained the plans of the Ministry for Health in terms of precautionary measures and information campaigns about the mitigation actions against Covid-19 outbreak, in particular at points of entries and random testing. Prof Gauci remarked on the important role that social partners have to play in the control of the virus. She called on social partners to appeal to employers not to allow sick people to report to work, but to opt for telework instead. She said that employers, in cognizance of employees who visited locations where there is transmission of Covid-19, should put into place the voluntary quarantine system. She also appealed to organisations to prepare risk assessments and internal mitigation plans.
During the meeting, many social partners expressed their appreciation for the work being conducted by the Ministry for Health and the preparations carried out on a national level.
In another development MaltaToday reports that the Maltese health authorities are mulling whether to deny a cruise ship entry into Valletta after it temporarily went into self-quarantine when a former passenger contracted the coronavirus.
The ship, MSC Opera is scheduled to make a stopover in Malta on Saturday after its normal route was disrupted by Turkey’s decision to block all cruise ships from docking in its ports. The ship went into temporary self-quarantine in Greece but was given the all-clear by Greek health authorities to continue its journey without restrictions. The ship sailed into Corfu today. The Austrian passenger who contracted Covid-19 had disembarked last week and was diagnosed back home.
The Times reports that the PNis calling on Air Malta to cut down its fares by €25 to mitigate the coronavirus impact on the tourism sector.
This should apply to flights until the end of the month, the party is proposing, adding that charges to change travel dates should also be waived. Air Malta has already said it will be allowing travellers to change their travel dates and destination to ease some of the impact that coronavirus concerns are having on both the airline and its customers.
Meanwhile people who are suffering from an acute respiratory tract infection with sudden onset of cough, fever and shortness of breath and who have returned from these countries within the last 14 days should call their doctor or the COVID-19 helpline on 21324086. They are advised to refrain from visiting doctors’ clinics, pharmacies, health centres or the casualty department in the first instance.
The recommendation for self-quarantine remains for those countries and regions where there is high sustained transmission which are as previously notified:
- Northern part of Italy – Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia Romagna
- China, including Hong Kong
- Singapore
- Japan
- Iran
- South Korea
The general public are reminded to take the necessary precautions for prevention of respiratory infections:
Clean: Clean hands often by washing with soap and water or using alcohol hand rub.
Contain: Contain germs by staying at home if unwell; do not go to work or school until one is better. Do not visit patients in hospital if you are sick.
Cover: Use a tissue to cover your mouth and nose when you cough and do not sneeze into bare hands. Do not leave tissues running around. Do not sneeze or cough into your hands as you may contaminate objects or people that you touch.
More Info can be accessed on here.
Government of Malta
