VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Russian navy is expected to sail close to the Maltese islands to carry out military exercises including missile-firing over the Maltese airspace.
According to a local report the military excercises are expected in the coming days or weeks. Two Russian fleets will be based in the Mediterranean Sea, outside the Maltese territorial waters to carry out these military exercises.
The Maltese Foreign Affairs Ministry did not confirm and neither denied the report published by the Opposition’s media in Malta. Questions sent to the Ministry have remained unanswered.
Foreign affairs observers remarked that these military exercises could lead to disruption of traffic in Maltese airspace. This is because these missiles are fired up to 60,000 feet, when aircrafts fly on an average between 30 and 40,000 feet over the Maltese airspace. This also means that aircrafts scheduled to fly into thee Maltese airspace will have to change their course completely.
Similar military activity by the Russian military was carried out recently over the Irish airspace. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has strongly condemned these military manoeuvres by the Kremlin forces.
In 2016, then Maltàs Foreign Minister George Vella confirmed that the Maltese government did not allow President Putin’s eight-strong battlegroup to refuel in Malta on suspicion that the fleet was on its way to Syria.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – As Covid cases continuing to fall in Malta, the government announced further decisions to drop pandemic mandates. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne revealed that as from next Monday, valid vaccine certificates will no longer be needed by restaurants, bars and social clubs owners. Visiting hours at Mater Dei hospital will be extended and the restriction limiting private home gatherings will be completely removed. Standing weddings with a maximum of 300 guests can be held as from 1 April but the number of fully vaccinated guests will remain 500 for seated weddings.
Fearne added that individuals found positive through a primary contact will only be required to stay five days in quarantine but a negative test will be needed before leaving quarantine. Secondary contacts will not be required to go into quarantine.
It was also announced that the quarantine period will be reduced from 14 to 10 days to those passengers entering Malta from a red listed country. Third country nationals with work permits will no longer need to quarantine at a hotel but at a fixed residence.
Fearne said based on the current data, if the forecast remains the same, most Covid-19 mitigating measures will be removed by the end of spring.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 claimed five more lives in the last 24 hours, with two women aged 84 and 87, and three men aged 80, 83 and 86, died while Covid positive. The number of people who died since the beginning of the pandemic in Malta now stands at 565. 86 patients are being treated for Covid-19 in hospital, six of whom are in intensive care.
In Saturday’s medical bulletin, the local health authorities said that 195 new cases were confirmed. With 310 recoveries, the number of active cases is 2,555.
1,220,359 vaccine doses have been administered to date, 333,738 of which are booster doses.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – As the upcoming general election in Malta is expected to be announced soon, the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela today unveiled a financial package of €70 million to boost economic growth. During a press conference together with Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, Abela announced that the Maltese government will give a one off grant of €100 to all workers and students in Malta, while the pensioners and those receiving social benefits will get a grant of €200.
Abela reaffirmed that the €70 million package is expected to generate economic activity as the Covid voucher scheme boosted the local economy. “This is a cash injection that will generate economic activity,” Abela said while announcing that the wage supplement scheme will be extended for as long as it is needed to ensure that the economy recovers quickly as it emerged from the global pandemic. According to the Finance Minister, despite the deficit forecasts of 11.1% last year, the deficit is now expected to drop to 8.1%.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese goverment will strengthen the fight against gender-based violence and will introduce the concept of femicide in the Criminal Code. The decision was taken by the Cabinet and announced by Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela over ruling the decision taken last month by Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis who dismissed calls by the civil society to codify femicide in law.

The latest development came following the killing of Polish student Paulina Dembska, 20 who was also raped in a public garden in Sliema on January, 2. 20-year-old Abner Aquilina is accused of the deliberate murder of Dembska.

Maltese Premier Robert Abela said that the decision was taken after consultation with the civil society and announced that the parliamentary process to approve the legal amendments will start as soon as possible. Activists and women rights’ organisations have campaigned for the introduction of femicide as an aggravation.

Although Malta implemented the Istanbul Convention in 2018, the laws in place do not fully protect women who experience domestic violence incidents.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides praised Maltàs vaccination programme against Covid-19.

During a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne, Commissioner Kyriakides thanked him for his cooperation in the past two years that have been dominated by the pandemic.

She said the way EU member states confronted the Covid-19 pandemic had brought about a significant change in member countries’ health systems.

Commissioner Kyriakides also mentioned how the European Commission is working with member countries to reach as many other countries as possible outside of Europe. She added that access to medicines would remain a priority for the European Commission.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne said that Malta has a high vaccination rate where 76% of the population over the age of 18 received the booster. “The vaccine is the solution to control the spread of the pandemic. That is why we are now about to release certain restrictions.” 1,204,550 vaccine doses have been administered to date, 327,112 of which are booster doses.

In the last 24 hours, the pandemic claimed three more lives; two men aged 70 and 81 and a female aged 90. A total of 541 people have died while Covid-19 positive since the start of the pandemic. 102 patients are being treated for Covid-19 in hospital, seven of whom are in intensive care.

Meanwhile, the health authorities said that 230 new cases were found. The number of active cases currently stands at 3,946.

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne announced in Parliament that the vaccine certificates will no longer be required for admission to various public venues as from February.

The certificates will be no longer needed to enter restaurants, snack bars and social clubs as from February, 7. The requirement will not be applicable for bars, gyms, pools, spas, cinemas and theatres as from February, 14.

However, the certificates will still be required for organised events, for spectators in sporting events, for travelling and to enter nightclubs.

These restrictive measures against COVID-19 transmission were introduced by the local health authories only last week. The requirements had been criticised by various associations representing the hospitality industry and the Nationalist opposition.

However, Minister Fearne insisted that the government’s decision was based on scientific evidence. “Measures must be timely, and they should only be withdrawn when the time is right,” the minister said. “The science is not always popular but it is almost always right,” Fearne added.

Around 75% of the adult population had received the vaccine booster dose, stabilising the number of Covid-19 cases while keeping low and stable the numbers of people in intensive care. 1,201,389 vaccine doses have been administered to date, 325,224 of which are booster doses, while 101 patients are being treated for Covid-19 at Mater Dei hospital, six of whom are in intensive care.

However, Covid-19 claimed two more lives in the last 24 hours, with a man aged 86 and another man aged 88 passing away while Covid positive. A total of 538 people have died while Covid-19 positive since the start of the pandemic.

In Wednesday’s medical bullettin update, the health authorities said that 314 new cases were found. The number of active cases currently stands at 4,309.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Pope Francis is expected to pay a pastoral visit in Malta between April 2 and 3.
The Papal visit was originally planned to take place in May 2020 but the Maltese government and the Holy See agreed to postpone it due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Later on last year, both sides discussed the possibility of the papal visit to take place in late 2021, but the increase in Covid-19 cases at that time led to the cancellation of all plans.
Pope Francis showed his desire not to visit Malta before the next general election. Consequently, it is very likely that in the next few weeks, the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela will ask the President of Malta to dissolute Parliament, so that a general election can be held in March.
Pope Francis will be the third pontiff to visit Malta following the pastoral visits of St. John Paul II in 1990 and 2001 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta made an insignificant improvement of one point on its Corruption Perceptions Index from last year. With a score of 54 points for public sector corruption worldwide, Malta is still behind the rest of the EU and Western Europe which scored an average of 66 points.

In last year’s report issued by Transparancy International, Malta was considered as a “country to watch” and emphasized on the need of reforms to fight corruption and to prioritize the rule of law.

Last week, the police in Malta conducted a raid at former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat private residence and office. Both police searches were conducted as part of an investigation into potential corruption related to the privitisation process of three public hospitals.

Malta is still on the FATF’s grey list and no one was prosecuted for high level corruption. Maltese Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that it is still unknown when Malta will be removed from the FATF greylist, but did say that the government has submitted a report to assessors for consideration.

The 2021 report did not mention specifically Malta, however warned the EU Member States not to continue to drag their feet on implementing EU anti-money laundering legislation, and on closing the loopholes that still remain in this important new law.” It also said that EU countries also need to support an ambitious proposal to establish a new EU anti-money laundering agency.

The top countries on the Index are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand with a score of 88 points, all of which also rank in the top 10% in the world on the Democracy Index civil liberties score.

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta will ease most of the anti-Covid restrictions as from the first week of February. This was confirmed by the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela on Sunday. “Since a large number of people had now received their vaccines, the government is in a position to start removing more restrictions from the first week of February,” said Abela. While stressing that vaccines are the solution to the Covid pandemic, he added that these decisions are not motivated by populism.”
The local health authorties are exected to annouce a schedule of which restrictions will be removed first in the coming days. The anti-Covid restrictions announced by the Maltese government last December came under fire from various sectors, especiallu those in the hospitality, catering and aviation industry because of the damaging impact on business and operations.
Meanwhile, the local health authorities confirmed that the pandemic has claimed seven more lives in the past 24 hours. Four women aged 74, 81, 86, and 89, and three men – two aged 86 and another aged 89 are the latest victims, as the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic reached 532. Currently, 93 people are being treated for Covid at Mater Dei hospital; six are in intensive care.
In Sunday’s medical bulletin, the local health authorities said that 273 new cases were found. With 1,431 recoveries, the number of active cases stands at 5,671.
The health authorities have also confirmed that 1,193,682 vaccine doses have been administered to date, 321,351 of which are booster doses.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA)- Malta has registered the highest number of deaths caused by COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The local health authorities confirmed that in the last 24 hours six more patients lost their life while Covid positive – three men aged 45, 75, 79 and and three elderly women aged 75, 79 and 97. So far, 520 people lost their life due to the virus. 94 patients are receiving treatment for COVID-19 at Mater Dei hospital. Eight are in intensive care. According to the daily medical bullettin, 286 new cases were registered. With 552 recoveries, the total number of active cases is 8,698. Meanwhile, the Maltese government is facing more international criticism following the new COVID measures that came into force on January, 17. The council representing the European airports appealed the European Commission to investigate the Maltese government for breaching the EU travel rules. Director General Olivier Jankovec said airports would be “extremely grateful” if the Commission investigates the matter “urgently,” contacts the Maltese authorities and asks them to abide by the EU’s rules.
According to the new rules, the Maltese vaccine certificates for adults over 18 years will only be valid for initial vaccine cycles done within the past three months or boosters within the past nine months.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews