Resist the temptation to take coronavirus lightly, Adrian Delia says

Resist the temptation to take coronavirus lightly and take all precautions necessary, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said on NET News during the evening bulletin on Thursday evening.

"It's important to follow what the public health superintendent tells us everyday but our biggest tool is ultimately ourselves, our capacity for discipline and to stay at home. Resist the temptation to take this virus lightly; it can lead to death and we need to understand that," Delia said.

He was commenting about the first two fatalities as a result of the coronavirus in Malta. Both patients were elderly, a 92-year-old woman and a 72-year-old man who has been at the Intensive Therapy Unit since contracting the virus. They lost their lives within twelve hours of each other.

"These are difficult moments for everyone, even though we were expecting this sad news. We have to be more present with our loved ones, send a message to the vulnerable people out there and urge them to stay at home and to keep safe. They should also be kept informed.

"We need to be with them in every way and keep them company on each medium we can use," Delia said.

The PN leader described the virus as an unpredictable enemy, but said that despite this fact, the health authorities knew essentially enough about it to know what precautions one should follow. 

"This is a moment for realisation and understanding, that the decisions that Charmaine Gauci takes are not without a context, that this virus is a killer. Nobody can say that someone is immune, no treatment can prevent it, the only tool we have is staying at home. What science says must be obeyed rigorously," he said, adding that better times would come.

38 new COVID-19 cases were registered in Malta on Thursday after over a thousand swab tests conducted. The total is now at 337.