Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Thursday that the Prime Minister should stop blaming the UK variant for the recent spike in Covid-19 cases. The government has known about the variant since December but failed to take the necessary measures, he said.
Grech was speaking during an urgent debate requested by the Opposition. On Wednesday, the PN accused the government of trying to avoid discussing the subject.
“This debate is only being held on the suggestion of the Opposition and against the wishes of the government,” Grech said.
“This pandemic is affecting everyone from all ages and from all political parties. This is why we never accepted to be lenient on the decisions needed to be taken to control this pandemic.”
He said that, apart from analysing the situation and introducing measures, the government must also take into consideration what their effect will be.
“Pointing our fingers at the variant for the recent rise in cases is wrong”, Grech said as he went on to argue that the lack of measures put in place were also part of the blame.
He also took the PM to task for saying that we are still seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. “We knew about the variant in early December, well before Robert Abela made unrealistic promises”.
“Whoever cannot see the problem, cannot defend against it”, Grech said, as he continued to explain that the Opposition had warned about the devastating effects the variant could have on Malta and also proposed certain measures and protocols in order to track the variant’s spread and remain on top of the situation.
The decisions taken yesterday were needed but Malta should not have been put in a situation where drastic measures had to be taken, he said.
“The measures are just as important as the vaccination process and we have the obligation to be serious, truthful and correct with the Maltese public.”
The Opposition is calling on the government to impose a public health emergency, which would allow medical experts to take the lead and have more powers than politicians.