LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne announced that as from next Monday, fully-vaccinated people will no longer need to wear a mask if they are alone in public or when accompanied by another person.

This decision was taken by the local health authorities since Malta will reach the rate of more than 70% target of its adult population administered the booster dose against COVID-19. So far, 1,152,980 vaccine doses have been administered, of which 293,394 are booster doses.

Fearne also announced that as from Monday, social distancing in restaurants, bars and similar venues will return to pre-pandemic levels. However the vaccine certificate has to be presented upon entry to such venues.

He insisted that the vaccine certificate will be valid for three months from the second jab or nine months from the booster. He added that if the European Commission will insist that these regulations breach the European travel rules, the Maltese government will re-examine the situation.

Fearne stated that the government will only be ready to reduce the quarantine period, once the immunity in the community increases. Recently, employers’ associations and the Nationalist opposition appealed to the government to reduce the quarantine period since the present situation is affecting badly the Maltese economy due to high rate of absenteeism at workplace.

As the Maltese Deputy Prime Minister announced that 90% of Maltàs cases are now of the Omicron variant, the local health authorties confirmed that four patients have died – a male aged 87, and three females aged 71, 76, and 93. This means that the pandemic has claimed a total 500 lives to date. During the last 24 hours 462 new cases registered, 92% of the new cases are of the Omicron variant type. The number of active cases stands at 12,301 while 1,261 patients have made a recovery. At the moment, 108 patients are receiving treatment at Mater dei hospital. Eight are in intensive care.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews