Updated 1301
Pilots have been informed by Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci that the flight ban over Malta has been extended by another month until the end of May. This applies to all incoming and outgoing flights, with the exception for humanitarian, repatriation and cargo flights.
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Updated 1236
Prof Charmaine Gauci said that yesterday, 1253 swabs were carried out, resulting in two positive cases. Malta’s total now stands at 465.
Total swabs have now reached 32,989.
She also announced 12 other recoveries, which now total 351, meaning the number of active cases is 110.
These cases concern a 33 year old Sudanese worker who lives in the community who lives in the same place as a person identified previously. He had shown known symptoms but was identified through contact tracing.
The other case concerns a Romanian woman who lives in Malta. She was not working recently, but was in contact with two household contacts who are now being followed up.
Prof Gauci said that 11% of persons infected with the virus showed no symptoms. Another person was admitted to ITU, meaning there are two persons in Intensive care.
The Health Superintendent encourage people to download a symptom-checking application launched today. It can be used on any device, including PCs, tablets and smartphones. This will consider different factors and will indicate the possibility of being infected with the virus, and will guide you towards testing. This web app collects no confidential information, and does not keep records of location or IP addresses.
Updated 1228
That was all by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri and Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia. Up next, Prof Charmaine Gauci with her daily briefing.
Updated 1157
Government has announced that its COVID-19 wage supplement, which was originally announced for the months and April will be extended to May and June. Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said in a press conference this morning that despite the authorities planning to reduce social restrictions in the coming weeks, Government will continue to support businesses and jobs for two further months as it understood that economic activity will take longer to recover.
Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia said that businesses need to apply by today to apply for the first tranche of supplements. Those applying from next Monday will be eligible for the second tranche only. However, those who had applied for the first tranche will be automatically rolled over and do not need to reapply, but will be solely required to confirm the amounts of employees.
Updated 1154
Minister Silvio Schembri announced that yesterday Government held meetings with MCESD on the “return to a new normality”, which will seek to secure a balancing of economic, social and health concerns. “Government has prepared a plan, which is being discussed with the health authorities with regards to the relaxation of measures, including the re-opening of a number of businesses”, explained Schembri.
Schembri said that all decisions are being taken with the widest possible consultation with all social partners. “Malta is performing much better than its counterparts”, said Schembri. “Nonetheless, there were people who lost their jobs and we will putting our resources to create new opportunities for them”. He added that he knew of a number of businesses which will be expanding in the next few months, naming manufacturing company Metalform among them. He noted that Government’s expenditure through these measures had gone up by a 100 million euro. When questioned about the MEA’s and Opposition’s proposals on reducing electricity bills, the Minister said that “such proposals were not part of Government’s economic model”.
Updated 1132
Press Conference by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri
Minister Schembri said that with regards to the full wage supplement, up to a maximum of 800 euro a month, 16,121 applications were received, covering 68,000 employees.
9,696 applications were approved, covering 41,415 employees, which meant in excess of 23 million euro payments.
When factoring both Annex A (the hardest-hit enterprises) and Annex B (who are provided a lesser degree of support in view of a partial impact, covering one day of the week of an employee’s salary), the total amount of applications reaches just under 19,000, covering 87,808 employees.
Schembri said that payments are now being processed at a faster pace after that a number of issues were resolved, such as the clarification of data.
More than 52,000 inquiries through various channels were made by businesses since the start of the crisis. 1,553 applications for quarantine leave have been received. 1,190 have been processed, while 363 remained pending. This has entailed a disbursement of just under 50,000 euro.
Kurt Farrugia said that so far Malta Enterprise had 76% of applications received for the various support measures, meaning that over 9,000 businesses are receiving support. Malta Enterprise is also expecting confirmation by around 2,000 businesses.
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As April reaches its end, Malta’s population continues to struggle past the challenges brought about the current social restrictions, with the media, social media platforms and the general public in a wild debate on what measures could be restricted first. So far, the authorities have remained completely silent.
At this point in time, with an increasing number of recoveries, there remain 120 active cases of coronavirus in Malta.
Yesterday, 11 persons were fined €100 each during the continuous patrols that the Police are doing to ensure that there are no groups of more than 3 people in public places, as per the legal notice issued by the government. One person was found breaking obligatory quarantine during the 408 inspections carried out in the last 24 hours.
As always, we will keep you updated with all coronavirus-related ‘happenings’ on the island on this page throughout the day. We’re expecting a Press Conference by Silvio Schembri, the Economy Minister, about economic support measures, at around 11.15am.
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