New measures to tackle Covid-19:
Prime Minister Robert Abela, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne and Superintendent of Public Health Professor Charmaine Gauci addressed a press conference at Castille to announce further new measures to tackle Covid-19.
Closing shops and stopping services deemed non-essential; Close restaurants and hotel ancillary facilities that will be able to start offering only food and drink through room service or deliveries; Travel to Gozo will be limited to essential reasons and / or property owners on the island of Gozo; The limit for groups in public places will be reduced from 6 to 4; All organized sport will be suspended; Gyms and pools will be closed; Cinemas, theatres, and museums will be closed; Weddings and religious activities including masses will be stopped; Funerals will be able to continue in accordance with the protocols in place.
These measures will be effective from 11th March to 11th April.
The Prime Minister also announced that educational institutions and childcare centers will be closed from Monday 15 March, while in parallel the Government will continue to work with all stakeholders to pre-holiday. Easter lessons are given online as is already being done successfully in post-secondary and tertiary institutions.
Dr Abela explained that the Government is taking this position at a time when as explained by medical experts, more than 60% of the latest COVID-19 cases in Malta are a result of the variant that is leading to greater dissemination. of this virus.
“We are stepping up these measures in order to be more aggressive in our defense, particularly against the variant. We need to control the demand on the hospital to continue to give the best care to anyone who needs it. We need to reduce infections to keep the health system under control while continuing the vaccination rate that is already the best in Europe. “
The Prime Minister reiterated that the Government’s priority during this pandemic was and will continue to be to protect the health of the people and to protect the quality of life of Maltese and Gozitan families.
“I remain determined, together with the Government, to work to get back to normal as soon as possible and we believe that the vaccination program is crucial in all this. The frontliners will continue to find me and the Government behind them by making all the necessary decisions. I am convinced that as a people in the coming weeks we will continue to live the spirit of unity that I have seen and experienced over the last twelve months. “
For his part, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne explained that from Saturday 13 March, non-urgent operations will be postponed so that the staff of these wards will be able to focus their work on COVID-19 patients.
Regarding the vaccine, the Deputy Prime Minister said that about 4,000 doses of the vaccine are being given daily so that today about 17% of the population in Malta has started to be vaccinated. Herd immunity is expected to be reached five weeks before the end of September, as originally planned.
He concluded that in the coming hours our country should receive confirmation for a quarter of a million doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 of Johnson & Johnson while two large vaccination centers will be opened in MCAST and Aurora. in Gozo.
The Superintendent of Public Health Prof. Charmaine Gauci stated that from the evaluations and tests carried out by the health authorities, it is clear that the variant is contributing to the number of positive COVID-19 cases. Therefore, she reiterated that these measures will be helping to fight this virus immediately.
