Covid-19 Update
Malta registered a six-month low number of new Covid-19 cases. With six new cases Malta registered its lowest daily tally since July 27, 2020. There were no deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
Newspaper Review
The Times reports assessors from the Financial Action Task Force held a series of meetings with local regulators in the financial sector this week. Sources told the paper that questions by the international anti-money laundering body were tough but fair.
In-Nazzjon says that Ivan Barbara, who died in India last week after contracting Covid-19, had pleaded with authorities to be vaccinated before leaving Malta but was denied inoculation because it was not his turn.
The Independent quotes Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci who said that over half of the population in the 30 to 39 age bracket have either been vaccinated or have registered for the jab.
L-Orizzont says that there were no new Covid-19 cases registered at homes of the elderly in the last week. There are currently 57 patients being treated in hospital, four of whom in intensive care and six at the Infectious Diseases Unit.
The Times says that Malta has been left out of the green travel list announced by the UK government on Friday. Britons are free to travel without restrictions to 12 countries and territories from May 17.
L-Orizzont reports that the Civil Protection Department added five new vehicles to its fleet with an investment of €1.5 million. The specialised vehicles are designed for operations in narrow and winding streets.
In-Nazzjon quotes a statement by the Chamber of Commerce calling for a revision of the legal framework for corporate taxation. The paper says that this agrees with a pledge made by the PN last week to reduce taxes for local businesses.
Morning Briefing
Malta fails to make it on UK green travel list
Malta has been left out of a list of countries that English tourists can freely travel to without having to quarantine on their return.
Until yesterday morning, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo had expressed confidence that Malta would make it. Britain will allow international travel to resume from May 17 but is limiting the number of destinations open for quarantine-free holidays to just 12 countries as it cautiously emerges from lockdown restrictions.
Valletta Green Festival under way
This year’s edition of the Valletta Green Festival was inaugurated yesterday, and scheduled to last until Tuesday.
The festival, which is being described as the biggest since its inception is taking place across the city, starting at City Gate and continuing towards St George’s Square, where the main activities will be taking place. This year’s ‘infiorata’ is designed by local artist Zack Ritchie on the theme of ‘Zero Pollution’ and features a colourful turtle inspired by this year’s European Green Week theme, ‘Zero Pollution’.
Valletta visitors are welcomed by a temporary garden inspired by the formal gardens of the past at Freedom Square, in front of Parliament. The City Gate Garden installation bears a classical layout that blends beautifully with Valletta’s elegant architecture and has been constructed using salvaged wood, a testament that abandoned materials may too be infused with a new life and purpose.
As part of the festival, the Environmental and Resources Authority has reproduced a beehive made with a marine wood structure in St George’s Square. The installation aims to stress the importance of pollination for biodiversity and how pollution impacts this process.
Covid-19 Update
12 new coronavirus cases were reported on Friday, while 19 persons recovered. These cases were identified through 1,956 swab tests. The number of active cases now stands at 252. During her weekly briefing, Prof Charmaine Gauci, Health Superintendent said that 53 patients are currently hospitalised, four of them in intensive care.
The Covid-19 positivity rate currently stands at 1.1 per cent of the population. Positively, Gauci noted, not one single case emerged in the past week from homes for the elderly.
Meanwhile, a 95-year-old woman became the 417th death of the pandemic in Malta.
CDE News
