Charmaine Gauci is set to return to give updates on on COVID-19, this time from the Prime Minister’s office at Castille, The Malta Independent is informed.

She will be giving weekly updates, starting on Friday, as the number of Coronavirus cases has again increased considerably in the past three weeks.

Gauci had been giving daily updates since the start of the pandemic, until these became three times a week before they were scrapped as Malta seemed to have overcome the virus.

But a rapid rise in the number of cases in the past weeks has pushed the government to reconsider its position to allay growing fears among the population.

The press briefings will be given from Castille, as opposed to what happened in the past when they used to be given from the health department’s offices.

The government has been criticised for giving in too early to the pressure to re-open the economy, while the holding of mass events including parties and band marches have led to a sharp rise in the number of cases.

The news comes as Malta is going through a renewed cycle of the virus, with the number of active cases skyrocketing to 267 as of today and the reproduction number rising to 1.39 as of yesterday.

Malta has as a result been removed from safe-travel lists in the Baltics and Ireland, and risks being removed from the UK’s safe travel list as well.