Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said on Friday that no Covid-19 measures were relaxed because of the upcoming election.

He was asked whether he ruled out re-introducing measures after the election, especially in view of the increase in cases seen over the past few days.

“We always introduced measures according to need, and these are certainly not linked to the election. The decisions taken were always based on facts and science. Science evolves and we evolve with it.”

Fearne said that, while numbers have increased, hospital and ITU cases remain low. “This has always been the main criteria we used when introducing or removing measures.”

The Deputy Prime Minister said cases are increasing across the EU and elsewhere around the world. In Malta, there are three main factors behind the increase; increased social mobility as a result of relaxed measures, a colder than usual March, and the spread of the Omicron ‘Stealth’ BA2 variant which, according to preliminary data seems seems to weaker than the original variant.”

Fearne said the exit roadmap remains in place, but one should always remain cautious.

Asked when Malta will be relaxing travel restrictions, Fearne pointed to an EU meeting taking place on Friday. It might be, he said, that in the near future, travellers coming from red zone countries will be allowed to enter Malta with just a negative PCR test, even if they are not fully vaccinated.