Unnecessary swab tests to be avoided, says Dr Charles Mallia Azzopardi

Mar 5 2021

Head of the Infectious Diseases Unit (IDU) Dr Charles Mallia Azzopardi has appealed to the public to avoid taking any swab tests unless deemed completely necessary. This is due to the lab being under great pressure, with its staff working day and night for over a year. He also added that those vaccinated and yet still get COVID-19 can spread the virus to others nonetheless, despite chances being reduced.

Dr Azzopardi denied any vaccine side effects being stronger between one another, with reactions not being overly serious. Most side effects include aching arms and fever. He also highlighted the fact that the vaccine aids people not getting sick when contact with COVID-19 is made. Less than 5% of inoculated people get sick with the virus, studies show.

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283 COVID-19 cases registered overnight with 156 recoveries

Mar 5 2021

Malta has registered 283 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 3,799 swab tests, while 156 patients have recovered. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

As of Friday 5th March 2021, 89, 946 vaccine doses were administered of which 31, 034 were 2nd doses.

To date, Malta has registered 23,871 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 20,291 have recovered, 328 died and 3,252 are still active.

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New COVID-19 variant identified in UK

Mar 5 2021

Scientists have added a new COVID-19 variant to their watch list, placing it as a ‘variant under investigation’ (VUI). This means it is a possible variant but not one of immediate concern. The variant allegedly has a mutation in common with South African and Brazilian variants. 16 cases were identified on 15 February in the UK.

All the 16 infected and positive were traced and advised to isolate. Surge or mass testing was not done as this is only reserved for variants of concern. With 8 variants on UK watch list. Meanwhile, the Brazil variant is still being tracked, with 379 households in South England being narrowed down.

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Victory Kitchen owner urges restaurants to donate surplus food

Mar 5 2021

Philanthropist chef Rafel Sammut took to Facebook to urge restaurant owners and chefs to not throw away stock and excess food prepared for this upcoming weekend. Sammut proposed the idea of donating the food to his charity food drive which, he claims, feeds up to 2,000 hungry people daily. Sammut runs Victory Kitchen, working alongside several companies and restaurants which he set up when the pandemic broke out.

ATTN restaurant owners/chefs: If you have any excess food that is still in good condition, please DONT throw it away….

Posted by Rafel Sammut on Thursday, 4 March 2021

Authorities announced on Thursday that as part of new COVID-19 mitigation restrictions, restaurants and cafes would be allowed to only serve take-away until 11th April. Sammut and his team will be driving around Malta collecting any donations towards the middle of the week, urging owners to label and freeze food in good condition which can aid to the cause.

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