Missing man referred to as ‘Mr. X’ identified as workplace death; met with wave of hateful comments

Dec 28 2021

It seems like workplace injuries and deaths are increasing across Malta in recent months, with the latest heart-breaking workplace casualty potentially shedding on the critical situation Malta is dealing with at the moment.

The man previously referred to as ‘Mr. X’ by nurses due to the lack of identifying documentation was identified as 39-year-old Somali Ahmed Adawe Diriye, a Birzebbugia resident who fell one storey and a half while installing solar panels in a Marsa factory. After the Malta Police Force had issued a call for the missing man, authorities had realised that he had in fact died days prior due to serious injuries from the workplace incident. This comes after a similar case, that of 32-year-old Jaiteh Lamin, where the Ghanian worker fell one storey in Mellieha and was left injured on the side of the road.

To literally add insult to injury, a number of Maltese commenters on various social media sites began to post a number of racist and hateful comments in light of Ahmed’s death, with Maltese commenter Daniel Muscat shedding light on the cold-hearted nature of such comments as the population worries about ‘false numbers’ instead of what is missing in their hearts.

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1,298 new COVID-19 cases registered in all-time high daily case report

Dec 28 2021

Malta has registered its highest-ever number of daily COVID-19 cases with 1,298 new cases and 82 recoveries on December 28. This is the latest record-breaking daily COVID-19 case report within a matter of days.

The latest report brings Malta’s active case number up to 7,735 with a total of 476 deaths registered since the beginning of the pandemic. Prior to today’s report, the daily case record was registered on Christmas Eve with 955 cases, which was the third consecutive record-breaking daily case number.

82 individuals are being treated in hospital, with 5 of them currently at the ITU while no new deaths have been registered. So far, Malta’s health system has administered 1,043,069 vaccine doses and 198,772 booster doses as the authorities continue to stress the importance of getting vaccinated.

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Strong wind warning; force 6 winds and cloudy skies to persist until Wednesday

Dec 28 2021

The Malta International Airport’s Meteorological Office has issued a strong wind warning over a number of areas in Malta.

The official Met Office page warned of West Southwest force 5 winds which will become West Northwest force 6 winds and potentially also rise to force 7 in certain places during the day. Local weather page Malta Weather issued a similar wind warning while forecasting cloudy instances.

The Met Office forecasts that such weather conditions and Northwest winds are expected to persist until Wednesday, with winds tomorrow also potentially reaching force 7.

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New education minister’s main focus is to open schools; to hold deciding meetings in coming days

Dec 28 2021

In his first few days as the newly-appointed education minister, Clifton Grima will hold a number of decisive meetings on whether or not schools should open after the Christmas holiday period.

With a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the community, Grima will hold two meetings with all of the relevant stakeholders, assess and decide whether or not schools will open.

The new minister did tell MaltaToday however, that his main focus is reopening schools. He will hold a meeting with the health authorities to analyse the breakdown of the virus and vaccine distribution in Malta, with the second meeting to be held next week where a decision will be taken.

Should schools open after the holidays?

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