The Malta College of Pathologists has called on Malta’s political leaders to admit their mistakes vis-à-vis the Covid-19 pandemic and show a genuine commitment to address them.

“Treat the current situation with the extreme urgency it deserves, be humble enough to admit that mistakes have been made, and show a genuine commitment to address them”, the College said in a statement on Monday evening.

The College said that the current situation, where Malta has gone from being the poster child for European Covid-19 success to the quarantine list of an increasing number of countries was “completely foreseeable”.

“The situation is now spiralling out of control and urgent measures need to be taken to try and remedy the situation”, the College said. 

“The College agrees with and fully endorses the Medical Association of Malta’s position that all mass gatherings must be prohibited.  By mass gatherings we mean anything above 10 people.   This is not the time for cosmetic measures”, they added.

They said that it is only a matter of time before this wave of COVID-19 infections is followed by increased hospitalisation rates and deaths.

“This is not scaremongering; it is the basic characteristic of the epidemiology of COVID-19.”

The College said that apart from the prohibition of mass gatherings, social distancing must also be strictly reintroduced and enforced, noting that many restaurants have completely abandoned these rules.

The wearing of masks in public places must also be enforced they said, while noting that working from home must once again be encouraged.

“The elderly and vulnerable must remain inside as much as possible, as in the absence of a vaccine, they are especially vulnerable to infection due the expected rise in the number of asymptomatic infected persons”, they said.

The College also appealed for all those who are awaiting testing to isolate themselves until they know their test result, before also noting that if the situation continues to deteriorate then authorities will need to seriously consider swabbing all people flying into Malta.

“The College appeals to our political leaders to treat the current situation with the extreme urgency it deserves, be humble enough to admit that mistakes have been made, and show a genuine commitment to address them”, the statement read.

It reiterated its position that if the situation continues to deteriorate from a medical perspective, this will automatically impact on the economy and social fabric of the country.

“The consequences will be far worse than any containment measure we need to introduce in the immediate term.”

Malta currently has 415 active cases of Covid-19 after 23 new cases were found between Sunday and Monday.