Malta no longer with Europe’s lowest COVID-19 death rate

Jul 30 2021

New data has revealed that Malta no longer has the lowest death rate amongst European countries. Marking the first time the island hasn’t registered a death rate of zero in weeks, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) revealed that Malta’s 14 day death notification rate per 1,000,000 inhabitants stood at 1.94. Being among the lowest in Europe, other countries such as Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Finland all had lower rates.

The infection rate in Malta continued to grow over the past few weeks, standing at 490.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Up 379 from last week, the island’s rate climbed up to fourth highest in Europe. With Malta classified on the ECDC’s red travel list, it is only outmatched by Cyprus, Spain and the Netherlands in terms of cases registered between July 12th and 25th.

Weekly hospitalisation also dropped slightly when comparing previous periods. The rate stands at 2.3 new admissions per 100,000 people. Authorities stated that the situation is being monitored to establish whether the spike in cases in the community is reflected in admissions total.

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Photo Source: Wikipedia

Malta’s recent Daphne Caruana Galizia news makes international headlines

Jul 30 2021

Malta is currently making international headlines once more but this time it is not for positive reasons. After the Maltese government was deemed responsible to shoulder the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination, which occurred in October 2017, international headlines leapt at the news to detail the murder that shook the entire world.

With international news sites such as Euronews, Reuters and BBC news reporting on the case, Malta’s government was deemed responsible for the death of the journalist. The news sites reported how a public inquiry into the assassination of Caruana Galizia found that the state failed to recognise risks to the reporter’s life and subsequently take steps to avoid the assassination.

News portals also reported how Malta possessed a ‘culture of impunity [which] was created by the highest echelons of power within the government of the time.’ As the case continues to develop, the island has been spotlighted by a beacon of international news reports, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

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Athletes react to sport event postponing and uncertainty

Jul 30 2021

Following a recent post released by this newsroom in regards to sports events being constantly postponed due to the pandemic, athletes and sportspersons took to the comments to express their concerns.

Claire Agius Ordway initiated the conversation by asking why anyone got vaccinated if events like Spartan Race, Tough Mudder and Hold the Fort will be cancelled again. Ordway asked to consider everyone’s wellbeing as such races are something to look forward to for hundreds of people – spectators and athletes alike.

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This year’s Gladiator winner Wojtek Stellmach approved Ordway’s comments, stating how despite having a much higher vaccination rate than countries like Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland, these countries are still going forward with their sport events.

He stated; ‘fingers crossed that sport will finally be considered as most important to our health and prioritised for those events to happen in [a] safe manner.’ He urged these events to happen in a safe manner whilst following the general health measures, as many people’s businesses are suffering and hanging in the balance.

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Photo Source: @toughmudder IG

San Marino and Bermuda have done it, why can’t Malta?

Jul 30 2021

This week two similar records have been broken in the Olympics. Bermuda became the smallest country ever to win a Gold medal and San Marino became the smallest country ever to win a medal. Bermuda now have two medals to their name, one bronze in boxing all the way back in 1976 and now one gold in the women’s Triathlon. San Marino won theirs in the women’s trap shooting final, when Alessandra Perilli took the bronze medal.

These wins have brought up many questions on social media as to what is stopping Malta from achieving this feat. President of the Malta Sports Journalists Association , Sandro Micallef was one of the people to post his opinions on Facebook. He wrote how many Maltese fans in the sport community feel, that sport in Malta isn’t given the importance it deservers.

If the country doesn’t give sport more importance, then Malta will never progress in sport. This does not just apply for the Olympics but in other famous sports in Malta like Football and Water polo.

If San Marino, a country which only has a population of 34,000 people, and Bermuda, which is approximately 6x smaller than Malta, can win an Olympic medal then so can Malta.

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