Prime Minister Robert Abela stressed the importance of the coming summer and its success in terms of tourism, highlighting that the coming weeks will define the future of the country.

"If we lose a summer of tourism, the country will have problems. If we are cautious, open gradually and wisely, then we will assure a summer of tourism and a good future for the country."

As such, Abela stressed the need for people to follow the Covid-19 regulations and guidelines to prevent a surge in numbers, and said that enforcement will remain strong.

He spoke about Malta's ambitious target to, by the end of June, have administered a vaccine doses to 70% of the adult population.

The Prime Minister said that the 7 day moving average went down. "The number of hospital admissions due to Covid-19 has gone down and the number of Covid patients in intensive care is reducing."

He said that currently tourists are making their choices in terms of where to travel, and they are looking at factors like the rate of infections, herd immunity and the percentage of population that has been vaccinated.

He said that the government took strategic decisions months ago, and was able to do so because the country's finances were in such a good state.

"When choosing where to buy vaccines from, Malta chose to buy from every producer. We also made a second choice, not only to buy doses equal to the size of the population, but to buy more than that."

"The last weeks have proven that this was the right decision. Buying from multiple suppliers guaranteed supply." He also said that Malta uses vaccines as they arrive.

He said that when the government decided on the plan to relax measures, they followed the science. He was referring to the government's recent announcement that certain restrictive measures will be relaxed, starting with, among other things, the reopening of schools.

The priorities were health, education and the elderly. In terms of health, he said that with the measures being lifted, the authorities want to ensure that things will not move backwards resulting in a surge in numbers and, if they do, that they would be able to increase measures to keep the situation stable. He also mentioned restarting operations that were scheduled.

"On education, I believe one of the biggest sectors that suffered pressure was education. We cannot have a situation where our children's development can be prejudiced, this is why we prioritised opening schools. Online learning worked, but nothing can substitute physical learning in class. That was a priority."

The third priority was the elderly. "Elderly care home residents will be able to have visitors. For those who were denied meeting their families it was dramatic experience, and the elderly suffered from loneliness."

"Opening cautiously means keeping the medical situation under control."

He said that it is crucial that the removal of measures will not prejudice months of sacrifice.

Abela also stressed that it is crucial for people to get the vaccine.

While the government's priority was people's health throughout the pandemic, the Prime Minister said, its aim was also to create synergy between health and the economy.

"We could not abandon or ignore livelihoods. If we had done that, what would happen when people needed to pay rent, pay school fees or buy food?  At the end of the day everyone needs to have money."

He spoke of economic measures, like the wage supplement, "which saved 100,000 jobs. That supplement must keep being paid until we can assure that businesses and employees can live without it."

The Prime Minister also revealed that the government is discussing more targeted support measures to help the more impacted sectors.  

The Prime Minister also spoke about his recent visit to Libya. "We saw our mutual potential for investment."

The new Libyan government, he said, gave the country an element of stability.

Turning to other topics, he said that of the government's plan to fix 700 roads, 310 have thus far been done.

He said in past, one would need to wait for pope to tarmac a road. "Today, that time ended, as we believe that if country wants quality tourism and wants to provide best quality of life to people, we need to offer good infrastructure."

He said that the government listens to reservations on such projects, and works prudently.

The Prime Minister spoke of the fast ferry between Malta and Gozo. "We identified a simple solution". This service is crucial, as it will provide new connectivity between the two islands, he added.

The voyage between Valletta and Mgarr will take 45 minutes or less.

He said that biggest mistake would be to destroy Gozo characteristics with development that doesn't make sense.