14-day quarantine unsustainable for the economy, says Malta Chamber

Dec 29 2021

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has stated its concerns on the current quarantine period for individuals who contract COVID-19 and their contacts, stating that it is unsustainable for the economy.

In a recent statement, the Chamber said that isolation should be reduced ‘to 10 days, and to 7 days for fully vaccinated contacts.’ The Chamber believes that a reduced period may motivate people to take their booster and comply with quarantine periods, especially when contact tracing and enforcement are being overwhelmed within the current conditions.

Businesses providing essential services will be unable to operate uninterruptedly within the current climate and companies that cannot shift to remote working such as manufacturing will experience major disruptions.

The Chamber also highlighted that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a press release stating that quarantine period should be shortened from 10 to 6 days for asymptomatic people, with several other countries following suit and reducing their quarantine period.

What do you make of this?

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14 stolen vehicles on their way to Kuwait seized by Malta Customs

Dec 29 2021

At the last leg of 2021, 32 forty-foot containers at Malta’s Freeport containing 58 stolen vehicles were found and seized by Malta customs.

The vehicles were reportedly stolen from Canada and on their way to Kuwait, with the vehicles intercepted via Customs scanning equipment. The containers included nine Ford F150 trucks, two Lexus RX35, one Lexus 1S30, one Dodge Dura and one Jeep Wrangler.

To date, 58 vehicles stolen from Canada were seized by Malta Customs, with The Malta Police Force and Canadian Authorities being informed of the situation and an investigation formed. Malta Customs have helped Canadian Police file charges against 9 persons who are suspected to be linked to violent car-jackings.

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1,337 new COVID-19 cases as Malta reaches new daily case record in a matter of days

Dec 29 2021

Malta has registered 1,337 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, marking the largest single-day rise since the beginning of the pandemic and also breaking yesterday’s record of 1,298 cases.

Hospitalisations have remained relatively stable with 82 people currently being treated in hospital and 6 currently in the Intensive Therapy Unit. Today’s health bulletin also revealed 116 recoveries and no new deaths as Malta currently has 8,956 active cases on the island at the moment.

Until yesterday 1,052,035 vaccine doses were administered of which 206,611 are booster doses.

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Two out of every three COVID-19 cases in Malta didn’t even know they had it, study says

Dec 29 2021

A study has stated that two out of every three individuals infected by COVID-19 in the country may not have been aware of the virus. This is due to two thirds of COVID-positive cases do not show symptoms, as found in the ‘CovPlex’ study analysis resulting from thousands of blood samples taken in recent months.

In a recent discussion broadcasted on TVAM, Professor Christian Scerri discussed how studies were undertaken when COVID variants Delta and Alpha were most common and thus, with the Omicron variant, there may be a greater number of cases where the individual is not aware of it.

The study ‘CovPlex’ analysed over 4,000 blood samples, including those of people who previously suffered with COVID, never contracted it and those who have been vaccinated. The study confirms that the booster dose is effective, also highlighting the since COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, vaccination will reduce infection strength rather than preventing the virus from entering the system.

Have you received your vaccine yet?

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