The Medical Association of Malta welcomes the statement by the superintendent of public health that she is completely against mass events, because as clearly stated in her document the relation with size and density of the population they could lead to an epidemic of uncontrollable proportions.

In a statement on Saturday morning, MAM said is disappointed that the Tourism Ministry with the clear backing of the office of the prime minister not only chose to ignore the advice of the superintendent and authorized mass events but chose those events labelled as “extremely high risk”. Those involved in this decision should now consult their conscience on the damage they have caused to the health of those who have contracted the virus, and to the economic recovery of the country by ignoring sound scientific advice provided by Prof. Gauci and her team.

The superintendent was proven right as one event of 700 individuals, a band march in santa venera have led to a new spike of cases and possibly a new epidemic with numbers comparable to April.

10,000 individuals sought swabbing in the space of 48 hours, when the swabbing capacity was 1,000 per day with the result that the track and trace arm of control was overwhelmed. This also means that the actual number of current positives may be as high as 4 times the reported number.

While MAM welcomes the cancellation of the 4 potentially catastrophic  reveller’s parties, MAM insists that the advice of the Superintendent is heeded and all mass events are banned as from Monday until the new spike/epidemic is brought under control, because the country risks  blacklisting for tourism by all other EU countries.

Legally enforcible regulations of the wearing of facemasks indoors enforcible by fines, identical to those in virtually all  other EU countries should be introduced with immediate effect.

MAM will wait for the government response and the MAM council will decide whether to suspend the directives planned for Monday.

Prof Gauci's document