[WATCH] It will be business as usual by May, Robert Abela promises

Robert Abela has promised Malta will return to business as usual by May as the prospect of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in January has raised hopes.

The Prime Minister cautioned that COVID restrictions will not be lifted at once but said the road to normality will start in January.

“I will be irresponsible to tell you that all restrictions will be lifted at one go. But by March I want to see an economy that has recovered and by May I want to see that we are back to business as usual and speak of COVID as something in the past,” Abela said in an upbeat tone.

The Prime Minister said Malta was in “pole position” to be among the first countries to recover because of its strong finances. “This is not a wish it can be a reality,” he said.

Abela sounded upbeat about the recovery, adding that he wanted to see a summer full of tourists next year, elderly people who are able to see their grandchildren once again and people going about their daily routines.

In an interview with MaltaToday, Health Minister Chris Fearne said the European Medicines Agency was on the cusp of giving Pfizer authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine. If authorisation is given, sometime towards the end of December, Malta could expect the arrival of the first batch of vaccines in January.

“We will start inoculating people the day after the vaccine arrives,” Abela said.

He was speaking at a Labour Party event that had to be transferred from Siġġiewi to the party headquarters in Hamrun because of bad weather.

He said that the decision to keep bars and social clubs closed for the whole of December was a responsible one intended to mitigate the spread of infection and avoid placing a burden on healthcare services.

However, he announced that bars will start receiving the COVID wage supplement back-dated to 1 November to make up for the forced closure.