Doctors demand further COVID-19 measures, as Malta retains steady infection rate

Doctors and healthcare workers are calling for further measures to fight the coronavirus.

The Medical Association of Malta (MAM) and the Association of Public Health Medicine (APHA) said they were seriously concerned about the current situation and had written confidentially to the superintendent of public health requesting more measures to bring numbers down.

The group said that at 46 cases per day, Malta now has the second-highest rate of new cases on a 14-day average in the EU.

“As a result, at least 16 EU countries have introduced travel restrictions to/from Malta, and arrivals have decreased significantly, with serious and long term sustained economic consequences on the tourism sector. Measures have to be taken to bring this number to under 10/day as soon as possible,” they said.

They said that the spread among the vulnerable was increasing, and as numbers increased among vulnerable patients, the risk of avoidable death also increased.

14 day average for daily COVID-19 cases

They pointed out that 10% of patients admitted to Mater Dei would need months to recover and return their normal health status. Because of this, every effort should be made to keep the numbers manageable.

Should Malta manage to decrease the number of cases back to what they were in June, it would have a positive impact on both public health and the economy.

The group emphasised that Malta needed to bring the numbers down rapidly to reopen ports and support the tourism sector, but also to regain the confidence of foreign governments that had insinuated travel restrictions.

To this measure, the group said that further restrictive measures are necessary - which should be decided by the superintendent of public health. “Wherever they are introduced financial compensation to businesses and support of affected employees must be continued,” the group said. 

They said that all Malta arrivals should carry a negative swab result which should be taken no later than 72 hours prior to departure from all countries including Maltese nationals returning from abroad until a vaccine is found.

Anyone who still enters Malta without a valid test should be swabbed on arrival at their own cost, and only allowed to enter Malta once the rest is performed. The group said that random testing of a few incoming passengers from “amber” regions has already uncovered three positive cases.

This high rate, they said, means that there could many more who were missed since testing was random. Increasing the testing capacity was essential and imported cases had to be reduced to zero.

The group also said that government vouchers should be extended until the end of December. “Vouchers were made to kick-start the economy however by encouraging people to move out of their homes they are kickstarting the epidemic rendering them counterproductive to the economy.”

All MAM members working in public health complied with the one hour strike

In a separate statement, MAM said that all members working in public health fully complied with the one hour strike from 8:00am to 9:00am in protest to undue interference without scientific basis from other ministries.

“Public health doctors work includes coordination of the public health response to COVID-19. They normally perform administrative work., organise and participate in swabbing centres, actively perform, track and tracing or COVID cases,  All other data collection and analysis with regards to COVID-19 leading to scientific advice is also done by these doctors who are specialised in epidemiology which is the science of controlling epidemics,” MAM said.