82 COVID-19 cases registered with 293 recoveries

Aug 4 2021

Malta has registered 82 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 3,346 swab tests, while 293 patients have recovered. No deaths were registered in the past 24 hours. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

As of Tuesday 3rd August 2021, 765,417 vaccine doses were administered of which 401,644 were 1st doses. 387,400 people are currently fully vaccinated.

To date, Malta has registered 34,590 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 32,438 have recovered, 423 died and 1333 are still active.

Mater Dei Hospital is currently treating a total of 30 COVID-19 positive patients, five of whom are in the ITU. The average age of yesterday’s cases was 37.

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Green NGOs propose lowering scooter driving age to 16

Aug 4 2021

A document released by three NGOS – Friends of the Earth Malta, Moviment Graffiti and Birdlife Malta – calls for the lowering of the national scooter driving age to 16-years of age. The proposal accompanies several other sustainability oriented policies to be implemented in Malta’s current Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). The LCDS, according to the document, ‘fails to deliver the full extent of actions and measures required to realistically meet the overarching carbon neutrality target by 2050.

The document describes how as Malta is ‘besieged’ by tree-cutting and destruction of agricultural land, it is shifting to alternative means of transport and not widening roads that will save Malta from ‘gridlock’. Along with scooter driving age reduction, the NGOs are calling for a restructuring of the transport sector, the removal of road license fees for motorbikes, higher grants for e-bikes for students, and incentives for employers to install bicycle infrastructure.

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Photo Source: Deva Darshan

Preparations for booster COVID-19 jab in final phases

Aug 4 2021

Preparations are underway to start administering the booster COVID-19 shot as medical sources are reporting lessening immunity in certain groups of people who had their jab earlier this year. iNews Malta were informed by governmental sources that the preparations are reaching their final phases, with the booster shot expected to start being rolled out in a few weeks. The same source also informed the newsroom that Maltese authorities ordered the booster shot for this year, next year and even 2023.

Medical professionals emphasised how the majority of those infected are unvaccinated individuals. There are still however occasional reports of people who get the virus despite being fully vaccinated. Foreign countries have started to experience this already and it was a predictable outcome. Israel has already start administering the booster shot to specific age groups, with Germany planning to start the rollout in September.

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Photo Source: The Conversation

Man charged with threatening wife with gun held at Mount Carmel

Aug 4 2021

A husband allegedly threatened his wife with a firearm after an argument over money escalated. The man, 57, from Iklin, had allegedly already been receiving treatment at Mount Carmel hospital after having been arrested on 26th July. The man reportedly loaded a gun which he took from his bedroom gun safe. The man’s wife and daughter called 112 for assistance, despite hanging up moments later as the man calmed down.

The man himself later called the authorities to state that what the women said on the phone was not true. Police, however, still made their way to the household and arrested the man. On Monday, the man was charged with causing his wife and daughter fear of violence as well as insulting and threatening his spouse and exceeding the limits of provocation.

Pleading not guilty, the man’s lawyer requested bail which Magistrate Charmaine Galea acceded to. The man was released against a personal guarantee of €2,000 on the condition that the man reside at Mount Carmel Hospital to continue treatment for what is alleged to be depression. Not abiding to this condition would result in the re-arrest on breach of bail.

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Photo Source: Kamra tal-Periti, thairath