While the number of people contracting the Coronavirus has been lower than before, some statements made by the government are getting people’s hopes up quite early, which could in turn have negative consequences.

Such statements could not only be dangerous in terms of people believing that things are back to normal, but have also at times contradicted what the health authorities have said.

One such person making these statements is none other than the Prime Minister himself, Robert Abela.

As an example, last Sunday the Prime Minister said that all shops are expected to open in the coming weeks. He also said that: "We cannot go back to how we were seven weeks ago, as that would be irresponsible. Whilst the focus has been on health so far, now we need to start focusing on the economy. I am convinced, and sure, that we have a bright future ahead of us." But sadly most people will pay more attention to the first part than the latter.

While giving a positive outlook can be good, perhaps more caution is needed in order not to get people’s hopes up, and in order to avoid people going back to old habits while the virus is still ever present in our society. Some people might take his statements to indicate that the worst is behind us, yet fears of a second wave are still very much a reality.

Now the Prime Minister has many a time said that decisions are being taken with the health authorities on what new measures can be eased, which is very much as it should be. It is imperative that the health of the people trumps the economic considerations.

But in the past there have been some contradictions between what politicians said and what the health authorities said. One prime example was when restrictive measures were introduced for vulnerable people, where the health authorities first said one thing, and then the Prime Minister highlighted that it was not mandatory for the vulnerable people to fully quarantine themselves.

Another issue relates to clarity and coordination.

The Chamber of SMEs CEO Abigail Mamo recently said on Indepth that one of the requirements made by the government on non-essential shops that reopened is to assure that no vulnerable persons enter into their shops. This was not in the press briefing and we found out about it after a document by the Health Ministry was sent to the shop owners, she had said.

Such a situation perhaps shows a lack of communication between the health authorities and the rest of the government, and also shows a lack of clarity given to the public about such situations.

Since it was not very well explained, there were situations where some shop owners had to ask for people to show their id cards, and other issues such as determining who is pregnant or not during the early stages of the virus. At the same time, vulnerable people would have gone to these shops none the wiser about this directive, and either thought the shops were implementing their own policy, or would have been waiting outside in queues with many more people.

Clarity and communication are very essential in this current situation, and the government needs to work on improving this.