Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli said that a “balanced approach” must be taken when looking at the situation currently surrounding mass events.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Farrugia Portelli said that the balanced approach which the country has followed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic should be the recipe for any collective decisions which need to be taken, including on mass events.
Mass events and gatherings have very much been the subject matter dominating the past few days after a cluster of COVID-19 cases – which is now up to 20 people – emerged owing to a weekend-long party at a hotel a week and a half ago.
A number of organisations have called for mass events to be banned again, with the Medical Association of Malta dominating Wednesday’s headlines after giving an ultimatum to the government over this very subject. They threatened industrial action if mass events are not banned by Monday.
Asked for the government’s position on the mass events planned for this summer, which were given prominence on the BBC on Wednesday morning, she said that one needs to look at what is happening, and questioned what went wrong in this particular event [referring to the Hotel Takeover party which resulted in the aforementioned cluster].
She said that in the past month there were many mass events and such situations did not emerge. She said that collectively as a nation we need to preserve what was achieved.
Directly asked if mass events that will attract tens of thousands of people should take place, she said that “more than asking whether they should take place or not, we should look at the points as to what could have been done differently and what one can correct. That is the government’s position.”
Asked about the Malta Medical Association’s threat of industrial action should mass events not be banned, she said: “I take note of every comment made by stakeholders and the public in general. I appeal to look at everything in a balanced way.” She said that the government could have looked at mechanisms, as some doctors had advised in the past, for the country to have gone into a complete lockdown. “I think the balanced approach we followed as a country needs to be the recipe for any other collective decision.”
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Farrugia Portelli said that they were in discussions with the health authorities so that where certain protocols need to be clearer and more defined, this is done.
Asked whether this could include a smaller allowable headcount for events, Farrugia Portelli said that she would not exclude this being one such measures.
Asked by this newsroom what the balanced approach that she made mention of for these events should consist of, she said that the balance has to be in terms of the decisions which are taken collectively “for the nation’s benefit.”
She noted that there are different schools of thought, noting that some had told the government to go for a total lockdown when there was no need for one.
“We showed that we are capable of moving forward in a balanced, prudent manner, and where we need to take decisions or even revise them, we did that, and we will continue to do that”, she concluded.