Malta’s Covid-19 reproduction number now stands at 1.39
Malta’s Covid-19 reproduction number has now exceeded 1, and stands at 1.39, statistician Vincent Marmara told The Malta Independent yesterday.
The reproduction number of the virus is one of the key figures which countries across the world have been trying to reduce ever since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The aim for countries has been to reduce the ratio to a level of 1 – which would mean that one person would transmit the virus to one other person.
Malta’s reproduction number has not exceeded 1 since last May, but a spike in cases which has seen the number of active cases rise to 249 – even though over 100 of those are migrants who have no bearing on local transmission of the virus – in the space of two weeks.
Marmara said that on the basis that decisions have been taken on mass events, one hopes that the r-factor and number of cases does not increase. If the increase does continue at the current rate, then more decisions will need to be taken to control the pandemic, Marmara said.
One must take things into perspective, he said. The rate of deaths in Malta remains very low, while the number of positive cases against the number of tests carried out per day is still less than 1% which is lower than targets set out by the World Health Organisation.
It remains important to follow the health authority’s instructions in the wearing of masks and application of social distancing, he said.
The spike of cases makes it more than probabl e more countries could ban travel to Malta. This has already been done by two Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania and may be about to be announced by Ireland as well.
Meanwhile, all around Malta parties are still being held both in band clubs and restaurants with no intervention by the police.
The situation yesterday
20 new local cases of Coronavirus cases were found by health authorities in the last 24 hours.
Five out of the cases are from a cluster in Paceville, while four are related to previously known cases.
The remaining 11 are sporadic cases.
The majority of the sporadic cases did not have contact with people while they were symptomatic, authorities said.
The number of new cases does not include 16 positive cases of migrants reported on Tuesday. Three out of the 16 cases are from 78 migrants who disembarked in Malta on Tuesday, and 13 are from previous disembarkations.
Two new recoveries were also registered in the last 24 hours.
The total number of active cases in Malta now stands at 249, over 100 of which are migrants who have no bearing on the local transmission of the virus.
1,839 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours – a record high number. The total number of swabs carried out now stands at 134,944.
The total number of cases since 7 March now stands at 926, out of which 668 have recovered and 9 have died.
Sixteen new cases were reported on Tuesday, 14 on Monday, 15 on Sunday, 21 on Saturday and 10
COVID-19 in EUROPE
on Doctors’ warning: stop mass events or face week of industrial action
Malta’s doctors union will go ahead with industrial action unless the government agrees to new restrictions that control the COVID-19 epidemic
Prime Minister Robert Abela has veritable uprising on his hands after the MAM said it would issue directives to hospital staff unless controls are introduced to reverse a spike in cases.
The MAM said it wants all mass events to be stopped immediately.
“Malta is currently in the thick of a new epidemic caused by mass events which is leading to around 15 new cases per day amongst the local population, and has already been blacklisted by four EU countries. Rather than control the epidemic the government of Malta, against the advice of the superintendent of public health has decided to forge ahead with multiple mass events including those for thousands of people,” MAM president Martin Balzan said.
“What all the other EU countries are strictly prohibiting, our authorities are doing exactly the opposite,” he said, referring to mass events in Malta that had led to a rise in COVID-19 infections such as parish feasts and club parties.
“Very basic guidelines with many loopholes based on self-assessments have been introduced and enforcement to date has been weak. These parties carry a grave risk of a large spike in cases, especially amongst vulnerable groups posing unnecessary risks to healthcare professionals. Many more EU countries may decide to blacklist Malta if the numbers continue to increase, further damaging the economy.”
The MAM said it will start industrial action today from 8am to midnight of Wednesday 12, August.
Condemnation
The Kamra tal-Ispizjara ta' Malta, which is the national professional organisation with trade union rights and responsibilities representing pharmacists, condemns the belittling of the MAM, professionally, as a union and as affiliates of the CMTU and the MFPA; the Prime Minister's declaration shows his lack of respect for (some) social partners and of social dialogue, not least the respect for national professional organisations which harbour those who are experts in health matters.
The Kamra is flabbergasted at the PM's stance - himself a professional, and at the Tourism Minister, together with her "partners" in the tourism and entertainment industry, on their puerile affirmations, in particular....declaring that "with hindsight...(we should have not done this or that)!" whilst playing with the lives of the population especially the most vulnerable ones, the front liners and others.
The Kamra calls for all concerned to focus on health at present to reach a credible agreement with the MAM, as crafted with the Minister for Health and the Superintendent of Public Health, so that with the nation pulling one rope we can revert to the excellent position of sustained zero cases of just 2 weeks ago.
Otherwise all the sacrifices and discipline shown during the preceding months will truly have been in vain. The Maltese deserve much more.