LOCAL NEWS
Update by Ministry of Health
Health authorities said there were six new cases of coronavirus in Malta during the past 24 hours, taking the country’s tally to 656. 1,236 swab tests were taken during the same period. Two of the cases reported today form part of the cluster, while the other four were described as sporadic.
Five patients have recovered, meaning there are now 39 active cases.
Public health emergency lifting to come into force on 30th June
Government has officially lifted Malta’s public health emergency warning, as the authorities repeal a raft of legal notices which introduced restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus. Timesofmalta.com reports that legal notices introduced late on Monday mean controls on social gatherings, the opening of schools or the law courts and suspensions of legal times will no longer remain in force at the end of the emergency, scheduled for the end of the month.
This will also mean that schools will also be permitted to reopen in September.
In a separate legal notice, Government has enabled travel to and from 22 countries from the beginning of next month. The countries are Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Italy (except Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Piemonte), France, (except Ile-de-France), Slovakia, Switzerland, Greece, Croatia, Spain, (except Madrid, Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castile and Leon) and Poland.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said last weekend that any restrictions to all other destinations will be lifted by July 15. The removal of legal notices also removes any limits on organised events and on the number of people in public spaces.
Despite the removal of these restrictions, Health Minister Chris Fearne yesterday recommended against holding large events such as feasts and weddings.
#MALTA-24: LOCAL NEWS
Timesofmalta.com
Job vacancy rate in Malta sees highest fall among EU states
The job vacancy rate in EU states in the first quarter fell mostly in Malta, Italy and Latvia, Eurostat, the statistical branch of the European Union said.
It said on Tuesday that in the first quarter of 2020, when COVID-19 containment measures began to be widely introduced by member states, the job vacancy rate in the euro area was 1.9%, down from 2.2% in the previous quarter and from 2.3% in the first quarter of 2019.
Among member states for which comparable data is available, the highest job vacancy rates in the first quarter of 2020 were recorded in Czechia (5.7%), Belgium (3.2%), and Austria (2.9%). In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Poland (0.6%), Italy, Ireland and Bulgaria (all 0.7%).
The largest decreases were registered in Italy, Latvia and Malta (-1.1 percentage point in all).
Maltatoday
100 days later: how Malta successfully contained the coronavirus
Malta’s response to COVID-19 was one of the most effective, held by the WHO as the standard in health strategies, but also aided by its small, city-state population, a strong rallying call for unity, and economic fundamentals in place.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
WHO insists there is no confirmation on origins of a new cluster of coronavirus infections in Beijing
The origins of a new cluster of coronavirus infections in Beijing are uncertain, World Health Organization officials said on Monday, but the claim that it might have been caused by imports or packaging of salmon was not the “primary hypothesis”.
Several districts of the Chinese capital put up security checkpoints, closed schools and ordered people to be tested for the coronavirus on Monday after an unexpected rise in cases linked to the biggest wholesale food market in Asia.
State-run newspapers reported that the virus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at Beijing’s Xinfadi market amid worries about a second wave of the pandemic in China.
Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies programme, stopped short of saying packaging needs to be tested systematically following the new infections.
EU Corner – by Comuniq.EU
EU Bank to provide BioNTech with up to €100 million in debt financing for COVID-19 vaccine development and manufacturing
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and BioNTech has concluded a €100 million debt financing agreement to support the development of BNT162, the company’s COVID-19 vaccine programme. The deal will also allow the company to expand its manufacturing capacity in order to supply the vaccine fast worldwide in response to the pandemic. This will be done at the company’s own risk while the clinical studies are ongoing.
BioNTech became the first European company to enter clinical testing, having started a clinical trial in Germany in April and a further clinical trial in the United States at the beginning of May. BioNTech’s development programme for BNT162 is one of the broadest development programmes globally, with four vaccine candidates being tested in parallel.
mRNA vaccines consist of genetic material, called messenger RNA, that provides instructions for a human cell to make a target protein, or immunogen, which activates the body’s immune response against the respective virus. The goal of a vaccine is to stimulate the immune system to generate protective, long-lasting antibody and T cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 and prevent subsequent infection upon exposure to the virus. mRNA vaccines are a potent new developmental class of vaccines with potential for high versatility and favourable safety properties. BioNTech was able to bring the first vaccine candidates from concept into clinical testing in less than three months. Safety, speed and flexibility are of the utmost importance in reacting to the current pandemic.
This daily update bulletin is being compiled for the Chamber of Advocates by CI Consulta from Corporate ID Group. CI Consulta delivers policy research and analysis, evaluations and impact assessments up to policy implementation and integration.
