The football celebrations held yesterday in Floriana amongst other places have been described by virologist Chris Barbara as “very dangerous” for public health.
Speaking to The Malta Independent, Barbara said that while the gathering was spontaneous, “this is what the virus wants” to spread.
He said that authorities will now have to wait and see if there was transmission as a result of there being someone who could spread the virus at the celebration party, but noted that because of the sporadic mingling at the site it will be very difficult to carry out any form of contact tracing on people who test positive after going to the celebrations.
Barbara said that the virus can take up to 14 days to incubate, but that it had emerged in the majority of cases after five to 10 days.
He said that authorities will have to keep following the situation and effectively wait and see if there is a spike of cases as a result, before reiterating that from a public health perspective it was “very dangerous.”
Barbara’s comments come the morning after Floriana supporters in particular gathered in spontaneous celebration on the Granaries after their club was crowned champions of the BOV Premier League for the first time in 27 years.
Other, smaller scale, celebrations also happened in Zejtun and Marsa – Zejtun Corinthians having been crowned First Division champions and Marsa FC having been crowned Second Division champions. Attard FC, who were crowned Third Division, issued a social media statement on Tuesday morning stating that they had not permitted any celebrations to take place.
The teams were crowned champions of their respective divisions after a heated MFA council vote took place on Monday evening to decide the outcome of the league standings after the remaining matches were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However social distancing measures – which restrict the maximum amount of people that can gather in a group to six – were no match for supporters who left their homes in droves to celebrate.
Footage from the Granaries showing Floriana supporters celebrating the league win drew outrage from the public, with many lamenting how action to disperse the crowd had not been taken in spite of the fact that the Police’s headquarters is only a few minutes’ walk away.
The crowd was eventually dispersed. It is as of yet unclear whether any fines were issued to those who had gathered at the site. By law, those who breach the laws for group gatherings are liable to a €100 fine each.
Pictures also emerged on Tuesday morning of a high amount of litter left in the area, with public cleansing workers having the unenviable job of cleaning up the mess left behind on the road.