Every time the government announces a new round of COVID-19 restrictive measures, it seems, some will try to find loopholes around these new regulations. Worse still, sometimes it is the authorities themselves that try to do this.

Last month, the government forced bars and kazini to close down for a month after the country started experiencing a new spike of Coronavirus cases. Snack bars were allowed to remain open between 5am and 11pm, but were told that they cannot serve alcohol.

This decision is as mind boggling as a previous one which forced bars to close at 11pm. Many had argued then that it did not make sense to impose a partial curfew – the virus can spread at any time of the day, not only after 11pm. Now, people are questioning why snack bars an remain open for customers but can’t serve alcohol – does COVID-19 only target people who consume an alcoholic beverage?

Despite the arguments that one can bring forward, those were the rules as communicated by the government, and the rules have to be followed to the letter.

Enter the Malta Tourism Authority, which suggested that snack bars apply for a temporary restaurant license in order to be able to serve alcohol. If this is not a blatant way of bending the rules, we do not know what is.

Thankfully, Cabinet has shot down the idea. But the fact remains that different state authorities are contradicting, if not undermining one another, and this is simply not on. It is symptomatic of the way in which Malta has dealt with the Coronavirus pandemic since the start – conflicting messages and government officials living on different wavelengths. This really needs to be sorted out once and for all.

Another piece of interesting news from the COVID-19 front this week was the appeal, by former public health chief Ray Busuttil, for the COVID-19 burial “charade” to stop. Busuttil was referring to the degrading way in which funerals of COVID-19 victims are being held. Posting a photo of a coffin sealed in plastic and covered in a white sheet and carried by four individuals looking like characters out of the Chernobyl TV series, Busuttil said that the measures in place go way beyond World Health Organisation recommendations.

While one understands that the authorities want to take the necessary precautions to slow the spread of the virus, in some areas we are overdoing it big time. And this is especially hurtful when it involves the final send-off of loved ones.

It is already unfortunate that families cannot be near their relatives during their final moments, and that many family members are not allowed to attend funerals due to crowd restrictions, but there is really no need to treat dead loved ones as if they were radioactive material.

Public safety must be ensured at all times, but the dead and their grieving relatives have to be treated with respect too. Let us hope that common sense prevails.