Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne said today that the country has managed to control the pandemic, while also saying that the R-factor of the virus now stands at 0.6.

“Because of the sacrifices our front-liners and all the other citizens who contributed and followed the measures implemented, we are proud that we are in this situation where we can now speak about planning for our future.” The Minister however, also stressed the importance of following measures.

Fearne was speaking during a press conference on Tuesday, a day after the government announced new measures to help boost businesses post-pandemic. 

Fearne stressed that the government’s principles throughout the pandemic were to firstly take care of the health of the citizens, and following that, the health of the economy.

“You need to have a healthy population to strengthen the economy. As a government we ensure that we take care of our health and the economy. In the COVID-19 situation, health can be compared to air - when the air quality is good, you don’t concentrate on it, when it’s not good, you forget about everything else and focus on improving it.”

He said that there are other countries currently which are still suffering from the pandemic and have stopped their economy all together. He said that thanks to Malta’s robust health system, the government did not have to implement a complete lockdown. 

He highlighted that currently the figures in Malta are controlled and low. “We currently have a R-factor which is 0.6, which is very good, and we have managed to control the pandemic.” He said that with such low figures, the government was able to begin removing restrictive measures, for the country to begin to slowly adapt to the new normal.