Updated 1604
The Chamber of SMEs have published the second survey related to businesses during the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Almost 40% of the 360 businesses which took part in the survey said their business activity had came to a complete halt while only 20% said that their operations were still at above 75% of capacity.
29% of businesses said they had no intention of re-opening until the end of the month with 18% preparing to start laying off workers by the same period. Only 32% of those interviewed are able to continue their operations in a normal manner.
When asked to specify the main problems they are facing, business operators mentioned as the key challenges to access the support provided by Government, the cost to access finance, added banking cost (for example the need to use a teller machine for payments on deliveries, which bears extra costs), rental costs, and significant mental health adverse effects. Marcel Mizzi, the Chamber’s Vice President said that he was very surprised by the impact that this crisis had on the mental health of business operators.
Mizzi said that while appreciating Government has received a lot of applications for wage support, this is taking too long and businesses are facing extreme difficulty in covering his salaries.
While delivering concluding remarks, Chamber of SMEs President Paul Abela encouraged businesses to consider the guarantees provided by the National Development Bank to cover loans related to salaries, working capital and similar matters. Abela appealed to Government to facilitate and quicken the process related to payments to companies. Abela expressed his Chamber’s commitment to support its members in weathering the storm.
Updated 1336
Cleansing and sanitization of housing blocks
Social Accommodation Minister Roderick Galdes and Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Communities Alex Muscat announced this morning that Government had introduced a cleaning programme to sanitise housing estates on a monthly basis.
400 social housing blocks will be covered through this scheme.
Updated 1241
Eight new recoveries, four new positive cases
Health Superintendent Prof Charmaine Gauci announced that eight other persons have recovered after being infected by coronavirus, taking this tally to 126.
574 tests have been carried out on Sunday resulting in four positive cases, taking the total to 431, leaving 302 active cases. Prof Gauci noted that the authorities were observing a trend where less persons came for testing during the weekends. In this context she appealed for people to get tested as soon as they experience any coronavirus related symptoms.
Three of these four new cases concern immigrants at Hal Far tent village. The men are from Morocco, Somalia and Sudan.
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Children would have returned to school today for the start of the third and final term of their scholastic year – but this is a new reality for young ones too, and they will have to make do with video calls, emails and other virtual means of communication. Schools will remain closed until 30th June, that is, the end of the scholastic year.
Health Authorities remain adamant in not giving away any hint of a potential easing of restrictions, despite a very low number of cases registered this weekend, infact only one coronavirus case was identified yesterday. There are now 427 cases in Malta, of which, 306 remain active.
96 persons were fined €100 each during the continuous patrols that the Police are doing in order to ensure that there are no groups of more than 3 people in public places, as per the legal notice published by the government. To date 646 persons have been fined in breach of being in groups of more than 3 people in public. A food establishment in Marsaxlokk was fined €3,000 after an inspection found that it had a bench outside on the street with two clients eating on it.
More beds in Gozo
The number of beds at the Gozo General Hospital for patients who might get infected by Covid-19 has now gone up to 120. The increase took place after elderly people who were in Sant’Anna ward in this hospital were relocated to a licenced building close to the hospital. The building, which can accommodate a further 20 elderly persons, has been equipped with all the necessities in order to serve as an old people’s home while offering good services and comfort. The relocation took place as part of the plan for Gozo to be
well-equipped to deal with the spread of Covid-19.
