Vaccine checks for football fans as Premier League sees infection wave

Dec 15 2021

Premier League fans will be subjected to vaccine passport checks to enter stadiums starting Wednesday due to infections.

Tottenham’s and Manchester United’s trips to Brighton and Brentford respectively were postponed due to outbreaks in the Spurs and United camps.

42 positive cases among Premier League players and staff in the past week were reported by Aston Villa, Leicester and Norwich.

This is the highest since testing began in May 2020, following the return of football in England after a three-month delay.

Matches continued to empty stadiums for over a year until restrictions were loosened up and allowing fans to return with no restrictions at most stadiums.

Only Brighton, Chelsea and Tottenham introduced the mandatory checks which will now be utilised across England for crowds over 10,000.

Announcing the measures, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the vaccine passport would keep these events and venues open at full capacity albeit with safer guidelines.

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Photo Source: Premier League, Sky Sports

The Cannabis Bill has been approved – one step away from legalisation

Dec 14 2021

Malta has become the first European country to make cannabis legal, with the only step remaining being President George Vella signing the bill.

This is a historic moment for both Malta and the EU, with parliament voting in favour of the reform on Tuesday afternoon.

The PN called for a division during the Third Reading, with the vote carrying with 36 in favour and 27 against.

The law will allow the possession of up to 7g of cannabis and the growing of four plants at home. It provides for regulated clubs from where cannabis can be sold to registered members.

The White Paper was published last March, receiving 350 submissions from a number of NGOs and individuals.

The President will need to give his official ascent for the reform to come into full effect. Despite calls for him to refuse this, it seems as though the cards are moving in favour of it becoming law.

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Positive results for anti-COVID pill by Pfizer in new study

Dec 14 2021

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer confirmed on Tuesday that clinical trials show that its anti-COVID pill reduced hospitalisations and deaths among at risk people by around 90%.

The results are based on trials of more than 2,200 people, backing up findings announced last month from preliminary trials. Pfizer also confirmed that the treatment appears to be effective agains the newly discovered Omicron variant.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that the new drug, called Paxlovid, could save lives and provides further corroboration that the oral antiviral could have a meaningful impact on the lives of many.

Trials showed that the pill reduced the need for hospitalisation in high-risk adults by 89% if the treatment was given within three days of symptom onset and 88% within 5 days.

Bourla said that Pfizer are confident that, if authorised or approved, ‘this potential treatment could be a critical tool to help quell the pandemic.’

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Photo Source: TRT World

Prime Minister will not take action on Justyne Caruana until ethics committee completes work

Dec 14 2021

The final verdict needs to come out before Prime Minister Robert Abela decides to take any action on Education Minister Justyne Caruana, he revealed.

The decision will come from the parliament’s ethics committee, and he said that he will not be considering any temporary measures against the minister because the report is as of yet ‘inconclusive’, with the matter resting with the parliament’s ethics committee.

Only once the entire process is concluded would he consider taking steps, he revealed. PN leader Bernard Grech responded to this by saying that we’ve known about the case for over a year.

‘It has been four days since it became known that the Commissioner for Standards’ investigation found that Justyne Caruana had violated the Code of Ethics and possibly the Criminal Code. And we’ve known about the case for almost a year… Despite all this, Robert Abela has neither spoken nor taken action against the Minister of Education’ said the Opposition leader.

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Photo Source: Justyne Caruana FB, Robert Abela FB