Updated 1333 – No new cases of coronavirus, two recoveries
No new COVID-19 cases were identified in the past 24 hours, meaning there are now just seven persons infected with Covid-19 in Malta.
In the now-daily Facebook update, the health authorities said that the average length of recovery of persons infected with coronavirus in Malta was 16 days.
Updated 0911 – Newspaper review
The Times leads with the nomination of Therese Comodini Cachia as the Opposition Leader by PN MPs who voted to oust Adrian Delia from the role. President George Vella held a series of meetings with opposition MPs to confirm their intentions.
In-Nazzjon follows an address on TV by Adrian Delia who called for people to unite against government corruption. Delia confirmed that he was summoned by President George Vella following a vote of confidence in him by the party’s parliamentary group.
The Independent quotes PN Leader Adrian Delia who said he is ‘hurt and angered’ by efforts of the parliamentary group to force him out, but he said that he will not step down. In a Facebook post he wrote that he is still the PN and Opposition Leader.
L-Orizzont follows developments with the Nationalist Party where it says the majority of MPs recommended Therese Comodini Cachia for Opposition Leader after Chris Said and Claudio Grech turned down the offer.
L-Orizzont speaks to an Air Malta representative who said that bookings with the airline are picking up. The spokesperson, however, said that it is too early to predict emerging trends in the travel market.
The Independent says that there have been 20,000 movements in the first week since the ports were re-opened. Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli said the government is seeking to add more flights to Malta in the coming weeks.
L-Orizzont covers a case in court where a man is facing charges for forcing his daughter to marry and to wear the hijab. Magistrate Joe Mifsud said that marriage should be a free choice.
Morning briefing
A surreal evening between Tal-Pieta’ and San Anton dominated the news throughout all evening. All seemed set for a change in the guard within the Nationalist Party, after Chris Said and Claudette Buttigieg, backed by a majority of Nationalist MPs, met the president to inform him that PN Leader Adrian Delia no longer had the majority support of the opposition and nominated lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia in his stead.
Yet, later in the evening, Adrian Delia, addressing his party media, said that he had informed the President that as PN Leader he was duty bound to carry out the mandate entrusted to him by the party’s paid-up members.
On a Facebook post, Delia insisted: “I will keep on fighting for a new way of doing things, even if the old way has tried to retaliate. I am hurt and angry, as I am sure all of you are. Together we will overcome these obstacles and emerge even stronger”.
