While the world waits for a coronavirus vaccine, medicines used to deal with the symptoms of the disease are increasingly in critically short supply in Europe, the worst-hit continent.
From sedatives needed to intubate patients struggling to breathe to anti-malarial drugs heavily backed by US President Donald Trump, the COVID-19 pandemic is eating up stocks.
In view of the ever increasing spread of the COVID-19 and in view of the increasing lockdowns of airports abroad, Maltese nationals currently abroad are urged to make their way to Malta by no later than Sunday 12th April 2020 via London Heathrow or Frankfurt Main, by making use of any available commercial flights, the Foreign Ministry said today.
If COVID-19 has thrown your plans to spend a day at Fort St Angelo out of the window, there will soon be a second option – you will be able to explore the site from home on a virtual tour with its curator.
The tour will be one of several to be launched by Heritage Malta on a new platform that will go online this week, after the national agency had to close all doors to its sites during the coronavirus outbreak.
The last few weeks have turned our world upside down. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were going about our everyday business. But by now, some of you reading will have had symptoms, many of you will know someone who is sick and every single one of us is worried about our loved ones.
But what is unique about the situation we are in is that all of us are part of the solution: all of us as citizens, but also companies, cities, regions, nations and the whole world over. Yes, it is true: Europe was initially partly blindsided by an unknown enemy and a crisis of unprecedented scale and speed. This false start is still hurting us today.
A month has now passed since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Malta. One month since Maltese day-to-day life changed, with measure after measure being introduced to try and curb the spread of the novel virus.
A 12-year old girl and her parents were the first confirmed cases of the virus in Malta after they returned to the island from a holiday in Trentino, Italy. Since then, there have been a total of 241 cases – of which five have since recovered and three have been placed in Mater Dei Hospital’s Intensive Therapy Unity.
No matter how effective the measures proposed by the government will be, the spread of the Coronavirus is inevitable. This being so, all eyes have now turned onto the development of a vaccine, as the only solution to prevent people from getting the virus.
Public Health Superintendent, Charmaine Gauci had said that the local authorities continue to be in touch with their European counterparts to ensure any measures, including those related to the vaccines, are also implemented in Malta.
