Tourism barely reaches half of pre-pandemic levels – MIA / Malta News Briefing – Monday 11 April 2022

1745- Latest News update

Times of Malta says Malta will not be expelling any Russian diplomats, Ian Borg has said, but will instead be freezing a pending request by Russia to deploy more diplomatic staff here.

MaltaToday says a court has found Xgħajra mayor Neil Attard guilty of harassing his ex-girlfriend by sending her some 46,000 Facebook messages in 2015.

Newsbook says hundreds flocked to Valletta on Monday afternoon to participate in a national pilgrimage where prayers for world peace were said.

TVM says Police have confirmed that the victim of the latest murder of the year is Mario Farrugia who was reported missing on the 2 April.

Updated 1250 – Mid-Day Briefing

Tourism barely reaches half of pre-pandemic levels – MIA: 316,713 passengers travelled through the Malta International Airport in March, the company said, a figure which stands at 44.1% below the traffic handled by the airport during the same period in 2019 before the onset of COVID-19. The airport said on Monday that the number of seats available on flights to and from Malta remained 35.4 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, while the seat load factor (SLF), which measures the occupancy of these seats, averaged at 65.5 per cent for the first quarter of the year.

Increase in property sales, huge drop in promises of sale: In the first quarter of 2022, 3,373 final deeds of sale were registered, an annual increase of 2.9%, the NSO said today. The value of the deeds registered during this period rose by 8.9% over the same quarter of the previous year and amounted to €736.1 million. On the other hand, the number of promises of sale agreements reached 2,743 representing an annual decrease of 31.0%. Read more here.

Parliament to reconvene on May 7: The opening of parliament is set to take place on 7 May, according to a report on Church portal. This will be almost six weeks after the March general election.  During the ceremonial first sitting, the Speaker of the House will be elected, while President George Vella will deliver an address written by the prime minister setting out the government’s programme from the Speaker’s chair. Newly elected Members of Parliament will also be sworn in on that day, the report adds. To date, only the Prime Minister and his cabinet have been sworn in.

Covid-19 Update: 433 new cases of coronavirus were reported today with some 2,758 swab tests being taken on Sunday. This takes the active case tally to 9,134. Two persons have also died overnight.

Morning Briefing

Ukrainians suffering because of “cruel and stupid decisions” – Archbishop

Archbishop Charles Scicluna said on Sunday the Ukrainian people are the victims of “stupid decisions” by those hungry for power. In the traditional Palm Sunday homily, Scicluna said that during the Holy Week, “we cannot forget our Ukrainian brothers and sisters” who he said are going through a calvary of their own. “We remember the victims of these stupid, strange and cruel decisions by those who are meant to lead,” he added.

Covid-19 update

Following the latest release of information related to Covid-19 in Malta, the number of known current active cases is 9,043 which is the highest since January 18. According to the latest data there were 542 new cases and another three people died while positive for the virus. This took the number of death to 662.

Eritrean man passes away after traffic accident

A 31-year-old man who was run over in Marsa on Monday 4 April has died in hospital, the police said. Initial investigations revealed that a 31-year-old Eritrean man living in Ħal Far was hit by a Suzuki Swift driven by a 32-year-old resident of Żejtun earlier this week. (Newsbook)