Nurses union disapproves of COVID self-testing made legal

Apr 4 2022

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) said on Monday that Mater Dei Hospital is in crisis as COVID patients are being spread all across the wards.

The union released a press statement saying that it received over 20 calls from nursing staff working at the hospital claiming that there has been a huge uptick of cases into the hospital.

‘Mater Dei Hospital has more than 150 COVID patients spread in all arts, posing a high risk of cross infection among the whole hospital’ said the statement, just after Health Minister Chris Fearne announced that the government will be relaxing more restrictions.

The nursing shortage was made worse by the amount of nurses who had to undergo a period of quarantine, the statement revealed. It also said that some wards were left with two or three nurses instead of six.

With three wards now fully dedicated to treating COVID patients, the MUMN said that it had to issue directives during the weekend. Due to burnt-out nurses, many more had to be added as others even refused to work overtime even when requested by hospital management.

The union also said that the health ministry refuses to reduce elective surgeries to reallocate resources to the huge influx of COVID cases. The MUMN also disapproved of Chris Fearne’s announcement that self-testing will be made legal. It said that the measure was not effective in other countries like the UK because some people were able to fake their result.

‘We should be learning from mistakes of others and not repeating them’ said the union.

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President Zelenskyy delivers powerful speech at Grammys

Apr 4 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a touching appearance during the 64th annual Grammy Awards to give a pre-taped speech during the Russian invasion of his country.

The president had allegedly shot the video within the last 48 hours in a bunker in Kyiv, with the clip introducing John Legend’s performance two hours into the show.

‘The war. What is more opposite of music’ asked the President. ‘The silence of ruined cities and killed people. Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died, and we will never see them drawing.’

‘Our musicians wear body armour instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway. We defend our freedom. To live. To love. To sound. On our land, we are fighting Russia which brings horrible silence with its bombs.’

Prior to the casting of the 2022 Grammys, it was unclear whether or not Zelenskyy would appear via satellite or pre-taped video segment. His appearance during the Oscars was rumoured but did not come to fruition.

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WATCH: Early robbery in Hermanos Mellieha captured on CCTV

Apr 4 2022

A robbery in eating establishment Hermanos Mellieha took place throughout the night at around 2am in the morning.

No one was injured in the heist, which took round 30 minutes and resulted in the cash in the shop being stolen.

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The man, hooded and unidentifiable, could be seen in the CCTV footage holding a torch and collecting as much cash as possible before heading back out. The front door-hinge was found broken as the thief made their way inside.

The robbery was seemingly a one-man job as a single individual could be seen approaching, breaking and entering the shop. A police report was filed and investigations will be ongoing.

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90 migrants drowned in Mediterranean as Pope urged Maltese to help

Apr 4 2022

As Pope Francis used his final address of his Malta visit to urge the Maltese to treat migrants with the same respect as they did St Paul, 90 migrants were reported to have drowned in the Mediterranean.

The migrants were travelling on an overcrowded boat, humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders reported. They were departing from North Africa seeking a better life in Europe, with the mission’s head Juan Matias Gil saying that it was unclear exactly when the boat ran into trouble.

An oil tanker was reported to have rescued four migrants early Saturday in International waters. The survivors reported they were on the boat along with around 100 other migrants. The group, known by its French acronym MSF, said that the tanker did not respond to its calls not to return the migrants to Libya.

The group urged Italy and Malta to assign a place of safety for the survivors before it was too late. It also called of the European Union border protection agency Frontex and other EU agencies to reveal incident details.

Around 300 migrants died, or were assumed as such, along the Central Mediterranean route between January 1st and March 28th. About 3,100 were intercepted and taken back to Libya.

Pope Francis yesterday finished his visit by meeting migrants at the John XXIII Peace Lab in Hal Far. He was welcomed by Father Dionisio Mintoff, android that nobody likes to leave their loved ones behind because of war, hunger and the inability to build their own future and that of children.

He spoke on behalf of Christians, saying that because of such situations they are called upon to be ‘close to the weakest and to continue our daily mission towards those who, whether for a limited time or permanently, land on our island, to escape from misery to have a better life.’

Pope Francis heard the testimony of two particular migrants, Daniel Jude Oukeguale and Siriman Coulibaly. He also spoke about the Ukrainian migrants, displaced due to the invasion by Putin’s Russia. He drew comparisons to the way the Apostle Paul was welcomed to the island when his vessel was shipwrecked in Malta.

The Peace Lab is a voluntary organisation which was inaugurated by Giuseppe Roncalli, the brother of Pope John XXIII on 25th March 1971. Based in Ħal Far in a site which was originally part of an airfield which saw intensive air combats during World War II, it includes a church and a number of rooms, surrounded by extensive gardens.

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