Officially, Malta has seven known cases infected by the COVID-19, better known as the Coronavirus. An official helpline has been set up, but experts have noticed that locals aren’t using it properly and are now appealing for change.
The Malta Association of Public Health Medicine (MAPHM) posted in Facebook group ‘Coronavirus Malta – REAL public health advice on Covid19’ stressing the importance of using the helpline properly. “The Coronavirus helpline is being indundated with calls by people wanting to report others for not respecting quarantine. Please do NOT use the 111 helpline for this. It takes up valuable time, is not helpful, and limits the number of true, genuine questions we can answer,” they said.
“The helpline is meant to respond to healthcare-related questions. Those on the other side of the line cannot do anything about enforcing quarantine, so every second wasted responding to such a call means one less second when a genuine case cannot receive the help needed,” they stress.
The Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate also had an important note about reporting on others. “Please do not use the [email protected] to report any people who are failing to observe mandatory quarantine as this is hindering us from carrying out our work. For any queries and frequently asked questions please visit covid19health.gov.mt.”