Coronavirus: Prime Minister urges people to obey advice by health authorities: 'We will get out of this together'

Malta was effectively in partial lockdown, Robert Abela said on Sunday, as he urged everyone to adhere to the advice given by the health authorities.

The Prime Minister said the government would take all necessary decisions "when and if indicated by the health authorities", as he addressed the repeated call for a lockdown by some unions and the Opposition.

"The country is already in partial lockdown with various public establishments closed and tourism brought practically to a standstill with the mandatory 14-day quarantine being imposed... we will take the necessary decisions at the appropriate time when indicated by the public health authorities," Abela said in an interview on One TV.

He appealed for cooperation and insisted that a collective effort of solidarity was required to beat the spread of Covid-19.

"We have taken hard decisions and will continue to do so but these are necessary to try and avoid a complete lockdown that will shut down the country," he said, adding that government was adhering to the advice being given by the health experts.

Public health specialists have been saying that any decision for a complete lockdown will have to be taken at the appropriate time - neither too early, nor too late.

Abela said the forces of law and order were helping to enforce the mandatory quarantine and said all the financial resources were being made available to the health authorities.

"We will get out of this together," Abela said as he praised the Maltese for the cooperation shown so far.