Malta should accept Sputnik jab certificate say expats in Russia

Sep 14 2021

Maltese expats in Russia are placing pressure on local health authorities to start accepting the Sputnik vaccine certificate. The Maltese in Russia Association (MiRA) is also asking the Superintendent of Public Health to scrap the quarantine system for Maltese who took a Sputnik jab. Other requests include removing Russia from Malta’s list of dark red countries, to allow Maltese from Russia to visit on the basis of PCR tests and to allow unvaccinated Maltese from Russia to quarantine at home.

Greece and Cyprus are accepting tourists vaccinated with Sputnik, according to MiRA, with other EU countries developing bilateral deals to mutually recognise national vaccination certificates. The association said that Malta doesn’t have to accept the Sputnik vaccine but it should at least recognise the certificate. Despite Russia’s incidence rate being on par with that of Malta, the association argues that there are other countries with much higher incidence rates of COVID-19 per capita which are not on Malta’s red list.

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Photo Source: Anadolu Agency, Financial Times

€45,000 investment to help kids with disabilities develop musical skills

Sep 14 2021

Children with disabilities in Malta are being offered the opportunity to develop skills in playing musical instruments. In a collaboration between the Malta Arts Council and he Malta Trust Foundation, the project was launched during a press conference wherein €45,000 will be provided to the Arts Ministry over a three year period. This monetary investment will go into purchasing and maintaining musical instruments a Villa Bianca Birkirkara. The residence will be the country’s first centre which offers such opportunities to kids with diverse disabilities such as autism.

Malta Trust Foundation chairwoman Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca signed the agreement with the arts council and stated how this is a historic project which fill ‘fill a gap in the field of music and performing arts for children with diverse needs who to date have not had an opportunity to develop such skills. Minister Jose Herrera highlighted the importance of inclusion as Villa Bianca, in its final renovation stages, was donated to the foundation for the benefit of helping children with disabilities.

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Photo Source: Jose Herrera FB, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca FB

All unvaccinated workers in Greece to undergo weekly mandatory COVID-19 tests

Sep 14 2021

Greece has launched a programme of mandatory weekly tests for all unvaccinated workers as it continues to combat a massive lack in vaccination rates. Lagging in comparison to the European Union average, both public and private sector employees will have to pay for weekly tests or instead carry a vaccination certificate to access their workspace. The government is also paying for test kits distributed to unvaccinated children at high schools.

These same restrictions will also apply at sports stadiums, museums, cinemas, restaurants and all such leisure spaces. Despite the EU vaccination average being just over 60%, Greece has 56% of its population fully vaccinated. Health care workers have received vaccine mandates, with children starting age twelve being allowed to receive the jab. Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis told Skai Television that the measures seem to be working, but there are also lots of deaths of unvaccinated citizens. Georgiadis said ‘it hurts me to know that these people could have lived, but they fell victim to conspiracy theories.’

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Photo Source: NBC News

President George Vella visits site where Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered

Sep 13 2021

Earlier today, President George Vella visited the Bidnija site where Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated. He was accompanied by wife Miriam Vella and Caruana Galizia’s family, where they set a wreath at the site and paid their respects to the journalist who was assassinated with a car bomb in 2017.

The Office of the President published a statement revealing that the visit to the Bidnija site was organised after a number of exchanges and agreements between the journalist’s family and the President.

The Caruana Galizia family welcomed the President’s visit, in light of the recent public inquiry, as an exhibition of recognition of the state’s responsibility in the assassination and failure to recognise and avoid the risks to the journalist’s life.

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