The government is set to announce its strategy regarding cultural events on Friday, Health Minister Chris Fearne said today.

As Covid-19 numbers remain low, the government is planning a slow return to pre-pandemic days. In the past weeks, there has been a gradual easing of restrictions which were previously imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

Now the government is planning to take another step with the gradual lifting of restrictions which regard certain events. In this sense, a strategy leading to the lifting of the ban on these activities is expected to be announced on Friday.

The health minister remarked that the current situation in Malta right now “is one which is quite positive”. There are no Covid-19 patients in ITU, he said.

Fearne also highlighted that Malta finds itself in a very good situation in terms of vaccinations, with more than 70% of adults getting at least one dose.  

However, he remarked that the rest of the world is not the same. “Only 13% of people around the world have taken the vaccine. This means that the pandemic is still going around, so we need to remain vigilant.”

Fortunately, up till now, the measures which the country has relaxed have had no negative impact. However, the minister urged caution for now, as the country can still find itself in a delicate situation if new variants start to spread.

He said Malta’s vaccine passport is set to be integrated with the European system as from 1 July. Once the system is implemented, EU citizens would not have restrictions if they have this passport. 

The vaccine certificate is already accessible for Maltese citizens, and 60,000 people have downloaded it, the Minister said. 

The target is for 80% of the whole population to be vaccinated.

The minister also announced that as from next week, children between 12 and 15 will start receiving invitations to be administered the Covid-19 vaccine.