Updated 1300 – No new cases of coronavirus
Malta registered no new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the Department of Health said. As one person recovered during the same time frame, the number of cases has gone down to 10.
The Department also said that of these ten patients, only three are recovering in Malta’s hospitals, two at St Thomas and one at Boffa.
Updated 1203 – Vouchers to be distributed from Wednesday
The €100 vouchers announced by Government as part of Malta’s recovery package will reach Maltese households from Wednesday onwards. A member of the household will need to sign for the vouchers. This was announced this morning during a Press Conference by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri
Every person who holds Maltese residence and work permits will be receiving five vouchers to be spent at local businesses amounting to 20 euro each. Four of these are to be spent at catering establishments or hotels.
Updated 1152 – President on standby in Opposition crisis
Timesofmalta.com reports that President George Vella has cancelled most of his appointments today as he remains on standby awaiting developments related to the Constitutional crisis arising from the vote of no confidence in PN and Opposition Leader Adrian Delia.
The portal was told by constitutional experts that Delia had now lost legitimacy following yesterday’s vote, despite his defiance.
Updated 0858 – Newspaper Review
Malta Today leads with a report by the National Audit Office which concludes that a multi-million deal to transfer three public hospitals to Vitals was ‘predetermined’. The NAO said that an agreement was signed with VGH before the request for proposals was published.
The Independent says that the Opposition and unions are renewing calls for the termination of the state hospitals concession following a damning report by the National Auditor’s Office flagging ‘collusion’ between the government and original bidder Vitals.
The Times reports on the findings of a report by the National Audit Office which says that failure in good governance in the deal with Vitals Global Healthcare ‘rests squarely’ on former Health Minister Konrad Mizzi.
In-Nazzjon leads with comments by PN Leader Adrian Delia after losing a vote of confidence in the parliamentary group. Delia said he will stick by the choice of party paid members who elected him to lead for the remainder of the legislature.
L-Orizzont says that the votes of confidence against Adrian Delia by the PN parliamentary group may lead to an unprecedented situation where the party has one leader and the opposition, another.
The Times quotes PN Leader Adrian Delia who delivered a TV address before crunch talks with the party’s parliamentary group. He said that he had filed a police report on Monday over information being illegally leaked to the media to damage him.
Malta Today reaches out to former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who denied claims that PN Leader Adrian Delia tried to rope him in to mediate with the parliamentary group. He did not say whether he met Delia but said that he was not present for the meeting with MPs.
L-Orizzont says that more than 20,000 inbound tourists visited Malta in the first week since the reopening of ports. There were 220 flights and 11 trips by catamaran, with the largest numbers coming from Germany and Italy.
In-Nazzjon reports that Adrian Delia will call a meeting of the PN’s Executive Committee following a motion by MPs questioning trust in him as Leader of the Opposition. He said Executive Committee members will discuss the same issue.
The Independent quotes a European Commission report which says that Malta’s economy had started to slow down before the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, predicting a 6 percent decline in GDP this year. The decrease is, however, the smallest in the euro area.
L-Orizzont quotes the EU Commission Economic Forecast report for Malta which expects the economy to shrink by 6 percent this year before increasing by 6.2 percent in 2021. The paper says that Malta’s economic fallout from Covid-19 is among the least in the EU.
Morning briefing
Opposition Leader Adrian Delia defiantly vowed to not relinquish his post despite a significant vote of no confidence against him during a Parliamentary group meeting held on Tuesday.
Many logically expected that such vote would also bring about a premature end to an almost three-year turbulent term as PN leader, but at a news conference later, Delia insisted that the President cannot remove him as a leader of the opposition. Delia lost the vote 19-11.
A number of Delia supporters greeted dissenting MPs with foul language and jeers outside Dar Centrali.
Read more on what happened throughout this long night for the Partit Nazzjonalista here.
Vitals report – Auditor finds Government collusion with eventual tender winner
The Auditor-General published a damning report on Government’s direct intervention in the privatisation of the management of three state hospitals, insisting that Vitals Global Healthcare shouldnot have even been allowed to bid for the takeover.
The NAO argued that VGH should have been barred because of “collusive behaviour” between the government and the company through a secret agreement made before the tender was even issued.
The damning report found a succession of serious shortcomings in the process to award VGH a 30-year concession to run Gozo General, St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech hospitals despite having no prior experience.
The report also concluded that no minister had authorised the deal, with the blame resting “squarely” on former Minister Konrad Mizzi. Later yesterday evening, Mizzi sought to share the blame on the rest of the cabinet, insisting that when an evaluation committee presented a report on the project to cabinet, ministers had given it the thumbs up. “In fact cabinet was involved in every stage of the process and approved every contract that was signed,” he insisted.
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