If the daily cases continue to rise as they are right now, the daily cases will go into "the high hundreds", the Medical Association of Malta (MAM) president, Martin Balzan, warned. 

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Balzan said that the public health measures which are in place right now are not enough, and more restrictive measures need to take place

"Our position regarding the record-breaking cases today is that it is very clear that now we are dealing with the UK variant, which is much more contagious. What we got away with before, we cannot now," he remarked. 

The MAM president hinted that a lockdown would perhaps be needed since that was the way the UK dealt with it. "If this is the UK variant spreading, the UK dealt with it with a whole lockdown." 

The MAM president said that with the very high r-factor that we have right now, things could take the turn for the worst in the blink of an eye. "If we had around 330 new cases and the r-factor is between 1.2 and 1.5, this will start increasing daily cases into the high hundreds and that will destroy the economy," he warned. 

"The bottom line is we are dealing with a much more contagious virus."

In her briefing last Friday, Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci noted that according to studies, the UK variant could be up to 70% more contagious.