Live Update: Covid-19 Bulletin Malta – Tuesday 5th May 2020
6762 Mins Read
Updated 1430
The Nationalist Party said that two days were not enough of an advance notice for restaurants to start operating again. In a Press Conference this afternoon, Robert Arrigo. Hermann Schiavone and Edwin Vassallo focused on the catering and hospitality sector. Schiavone insisted that food and beverage outlets needed to know in advance which changes they will need to implement in their establishment prior to re-opening.
Edwin Vassallo spoke about the plight of SMEs, saying that many self-employed and their employees were not covered by Government assistance. He said that there were many small businesses who provided ancillary services to the tourism industry, such as car rentals, taxi drivers, ice manufacturers and so forth
Updated 1237
Prof Charmaine Gauci announced that a fifth person has died, a Maltese 81-year-old man.
1,218 swabs have been carried out yesterday, resulting in two new positive cases. One of them is the 81-year old who passed away. The man was recovered at Karen Grech Hospital, and had underlying conditions, including cardiac and respiratory issues. He was tested for the virus after passing away last night. The necessary testing on other patients in the same ward as well as the staff members who were in contact with him is being carried out.
The other person is a 44 year old Maltese.
Four more persons have recovered, meaning there are now 74 active cases.
She re-iterated the need to wear masks when shopping in retail outlets insisting that the masks were to cover the nose, the mouth and the chin. Gauci also recalled the importance of ensuring a distance of two metres between each other.
Asked by the media about SkolaSajf, she added that no decision has been taken yet in this regard. Addressing a press briefing earlier today, Education Minister Owen Bonnici said that Government was forging ahead with its preparations to launch the summer school on 1st July – but the final decision rested on health authorities.
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The Maltese public seems to have made best use of the opportunity granted by the health authorities with a number of economic and social restrictions being eased as of yesterday. Increasing traffic was reported in various hotspots throughout the island while activity in popular areas such as Valletta and Sliema looked busier than the previous six weeks.
65 more persons were fined €100 for gathering in groups of four or more.
The country has so far registered a total of 480 positive cases. 399 persons have now recovered, which tallied to the four who passed away, means that less than 80 persons are now infected. The biggest chunk of these cases relates to immigrants housed at Hal Far tent village.
