Eighty-one persons were each fined €100 for breaching a legal notice on groups in public place, the police said.
A legal notice says that people must not congregate in groups of more than three in public spaces, a measure aimed to combat the spread of Coronavirus.
The public chose to keep us very busy today, the police said.
“Our appeal from early this morning for people to stay at home unfortunately had to turn into enforcement and fines throughout the day.
A total of 81 fines were issued today over Malta & Gozo by our patrol officers for breach of the legal notice about the enforcement of the order relating to the number of persons in public spaces.
This high number of fines during such a situation is not something we are boasting about, the police said. Together with all the other first-responders we are stretching all our resources and doing our utmost to assist with flattening the curve, however we could not do this without your cooperation.
The police have set up a 24/7 operations room dealing solely with the COVID-19 situation. “If you encounter any breach of the regulations related to the COVID-19 do not post it on social media but report it directly to our ops room on 2294 4504/4511. Posting such breaches on social media will serve only to delay necessary action and hinder the investigations especially if misleading information is posted,” the police said.