During yesterday’s Parliament meeting, Health Minister Chris Fearne addressed the recent spike in COVID-19 cases that Malta has been experiencing.

"It is no secret that the moving average over the past week has increased compared to a couple of weeks ago when the daily average was that of 130 to 140 cases per day," he said, noting however that yesterday’s record amount of cases (336 new cases) cannot be taken out of context.

While reasons could be many, health authorities are attributing the recent spike to pandemic fatigue which is seeing people becoming more lenient and relaxed with the restrictive measures, as well as the delay in the variant’s arrival. “The inevitable situation of a variant which is more easily transmitted could be the main reason for the recent spike in cases."

"Our main objective is to attack the virus. This could only be done through a successful vaccination process like ours", Fearne said. "We must also defend against it and this could only be done by enforcing the current measures and where possible increasing the fines that are tied to breaking the mitigation measures." He also didn’t exclude the possibly introduction of new measure in the near future.

Fearne also shared that new vaccination hubs in Paola, Boffa and Gozo are set to open soon and as of today, those aged between 75 and 80 will start receiving their jab appointments.