Update 2000 – The Opposition leader Bernard Grech has blamed the country’s current state in the COVID-19 pandemic on the Prime Minister Robert Abela’s stubbornness. “The number we saw this morning, and the newly introduce restrictions are a result of Abela’s insistence in not listening to the advice given by health experts,” he said
Update 1850- The MUT welcomed the decision by the government to close all education institutions from Monday. The government has accepted the MUT’s proposal as presented this afternoon during the meeting held. The MUT shall be working with educators and respective stakeholders for the transition to online learning.
Updated 1830 – The Prime Minister said that the situation is such that the country needs to introduce new measures to control the the increase in the number of cases due to the variant. 60% of the new cases registered are the variant cases.
The Prime Minister announced that the country will increase the rate with which the country is giving the vaccine.
As of tomorrow till April 11th:
- All restaurants and ancillary services in hotels will close and only room service will be provided;
- Closure of non-essential shops and services including hairdressers and barbers, beauty shops and clothes shops.
- Crossings to Gozo will be limited to essential travel;
- Groups are being limited to four from the current six;
- All sports activities are banned.
- Pools, cinemas, museums, wedding receptions and religious activities banned except funerals;
- Non-urgent surgery to be postponed.
- Religious activities including Masses stopped except funerals.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Malta is testing the various new cases reported in Malta and like elsewhere in Europe, the country is suffering from the spread of the British variant. The Health Minister said that the Intensive Care Units (3) are providing intensive care to 22 Covid-19 cases and an additional 6 which still require intensive care.
The Deputy Prime Minister also announced that as of Saturday all elective surgeries will be stopped from Mater Dei. This is so that all the staff will be dedicated to provide the service to the Covid-19 cases. Minister Fearne said that it is clear that the vaccination is working. He added that the decisions are being taken to reduce social contact, which is the primary source of contagion.
Fearne said that this is by far the most difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic experienced so far, not only in Malta but also in Europe and possibly the world.
He also said the vaccination programme is on track. “We are administering between 3,500 and 4,000 doses every day. 17% of the population has received the first dose and 8% have received both doses.”
Fearne also said that 55% of vulnerable people and 82% of the elderly have been vaccinated.
Updated 1705 – Prime Minister to announce new restrictive measures
Prime Minister Robert Abela said in parliament that the government will announce additional measures to counter the spread of COVID-19.
He said that the decision was being taken with the aim to ensure that medical facilities can cope with the situation; help curb the spread of infections and improve current vaccination capacity
Updated 1506 – MUMN President says doctors will have to choose between who will live and who will die
Doctors will now have to choose between who will live and who will die, MUMN President Paul Pace said: “We have to take the decisions other countries were not afraid to take. It can only get worse and our ITUs are full up and we have officially reached the breaking point”. Pace added.
“Doctors now have to choose who will live and who will die. This is all because the beds in ITU are full”.
Updated 1448 – Employers call for mitigating measures
The current situation, with figures repeatedly reaching record levels over the past two weeks is
alarming and calls for mitigating measures to cut down on the number of daily reported cases. The Malta Employers
Association said in a statement that: “We need to go beyond knee-jerk reactions to this crisis. What is required is a
clear strategy so that businesses can be in a better position to plan, instead of being faced with sudden
restrictions, which can be costly for many businesses.
The prospect of a second successive dry tourism
season can cripple many companies with long lasting effects on this sector. Government should take
any measures during the coming two months to place the country in a better situation to accept
manageable tourism during the summer season, subject to international developments which may be
beyond our control”.
Updated 1406 – Doctors say intensive care close to being exhausted
Doctors have expressed their grave concern on the latest developments, noting how the increase in cases has also resulted in a surge in the number of patients requiring intensive care: “Over the past 24 hours, the fifth intensive care unit has been opened and is now practically full. This was the last available improvised intensive care unit on the island.”
“The next unfortunate step that will follow is that resources for intensive care will become completely exhausted in a matter of days, if not hours. The age of the patients being admitted to intensive care is getting younger and younger.”
Doctors are “strongly urging the authorities to avoid a situation where intensive care resources won’t be available for all those who need it. The number of fatalities in this scenario would be exponential. This is what has happened to our neighbouring countries last March when the world wasn’t prepared for the virus. One year on, we seem to be losing the battle now: truly unfortunate, as by now we should have been wiser and more prepared.”
PN calls for Health emergency
Opposition leader Bernard Grech said that Government had lost control of the situation because of the Prime Minister’s incompetence and obstinacy. He added that the substantial rise in crisis was down to the PM’s unwillingness to listen to health authorities.
The PN leader said that a National Health Emergency must be called immediately so that the pandemic is managed by health authorities so that the situation can be returned to normal.
Earlier:
Health authorities reported a staggering 510 new cases of coronavirus, by the highest-ever reported since the onset of the pandemic on the island. With 316 persons recovering, active cases increased to 3,182. Two additional deaths have taken up the tally to 337.
MUT registers dispute
The Malta Union of Teachers has registered an industrial dispute calling for a shift to online learning expressing concerns related to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in general and in schools. MUT President Mario Bonnici said that a higher number of teachers were now under quarantine, making effective supervision of children harder.
Bonnici added: We are not ready to take risks on anyone and Government should be doing the same”. The MUT also questioned why a particular school had reverted to online learning while others continued normally. It also pointed out that while Government had directed its members to telework, this reasoning was not applicable for schools and classes.
UPE wants online lessons until Easter
Graham Sansone, UPE President, re-iterated the calls to shift education online: “What we want is that, for the next two to three weeks before the Easter holidays, all schools would provide their lessons online. After the Easter holidays, we would then evaluate the situation, and hope that cases reduce drastically,” the UPE president remarked.
Civil society wants temporary lockdown
The Civil Society Network has called for a temporary lockdown in view of the alarming rise in coronavirus cases. The Network acknowledged the economic impact of a lockdown, but recalled “the need for such a drastic measure has come about because of the lack of measures that Malta had in the past months.”
“This is not a reactive measure to the cases which emerged recently. A temporary lockdown should have been effected a while ago,” they continued. “But the dramatic rise in the past days is evidence of out-of-control spread in the community. When the rate of positive cases reaches 3% or 5%, scientific advice recommends a lockdown to combat the spread which is likely not keeping up with contact tracing efforts. Today, the rate in Malta is over 10%”, it added.
