Fearne calls for patience: 'I know people are fed up but we cannot risk losing everything'

With Malta being a global leader in COVID-19 inoculations, Health Minister Chris Fearne said the authorities cannot learn from other countries on how restrictions are lifted.

“We cannot look at other countries’ mistakes and amend accordingly, and so we have to be careful in not making our own errors,” he said on Monday in the wake of growing unease on the gradual manner by which restrictions are being lifted.

He was addressing the House during a parliamentary debate on the Health and Safety Authority’s financials for 2021.

The minister said the country with a similar situation to Malta was England, where the Delta variant, first detected in India, is causing a rapid increase in cases.

I know people are fed up, I know people want to get out of this reality, but we cannot risk losing everything when we are so close to the end Health Minister

“I know people are fed up, I know people want to get out of this reality, but we cannot risk losing everything when we are so close to the end,” Fearne appealed. He insisted that measures needed to be lifted cautiously and gradually.

“Action has to be taken in small steps,” Fearne said.

Government has come in for criticism from people in the entertainment, arts and culture sectors for lifting restrictions on open-air events but limiting the number of participants to 100 and gradually gowing up to 200. These events will only be open to vaccinated individuals.

However, over the weekend people were seen partying on the beach in St George's Bay, Paceville, after bars closed their doors at midnight in line with the COVID curfew. Furthermore, images and videos emerged of people celebrating without respecting social distance regulations at the St Philip's Band Club in Ħaż-Żebbuġ.

Fearne said that over the coming 24 hours, 60% of the adult population will be fully vaccinated with two doses or the single jab Johnson and Johnson.

The minister said vaccines are working, but the country needs to keep a watchful eye on the variants and the jab’s immunity.

Health authorities, he said, have already made arrangements for boosters for this year, 2022 and even 2023.

He said plans for vaccinated persons to be allowed to remove their mask when alone or in a group of two inoculated people on 1 July, are still on track.

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