Easing of lockdown measures could begin in coming days, health minister says in parliament

Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said that partial lockdown measures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, could start being lifted in the coming days. 

Fearne said if the decline of new cases is sustained, measures will start being lifted, but warned that certain restrictions will remain in place until a vaccine is found. 

The health minister said in parliament that for now, people must learn to live with the virus. 

He also warned against the misinterpretation in relaxing measures, stating they should not be interpreted as having a licence to organise mass events. 

If need be, some restrictions will be reintroduced if the situation starts to worsen again, Fearne said. 

The deputy PM also said that rapid testing kits could be made available to a wide-range of people. These kits function by taking a small sample of blood, with results being shown almost immediately. 

“Malta has been testing thousands of these kits, and results of this could be available as of next week,” he said. 

He also said that government will be looking at acquiring technology to carrying out mass contact tracing, but insisted such technology will not infringe public privacy. 

The health minister also thanked Malta’s health authorities, whose work helped in keeping the coronavirus situation under control. 

On Wednesday, Malta registered just one new case, with public health superintendent Charmaine Gauci announcing 15 new recoveries. 

Active cases now stand at 276, while 165 recoveries were registered. 

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