{"id":4043,"date":"2020-10-09T21:34:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T19:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/?post_type=article&p=4043"},"modified":"2020-10-09T21:34:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T19:34:51","slug":"il-gvern-irid-ikompli-jagixxi-biex-jikkontrolla-z-zieda-tal-kazijiet","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/article\/il-gvern-irid-ikompli-jagixxi-biex-jikkontrolla-z-zieda-tal-kazijiet\/","title":{"rendered":"Government must act swiftly to suppress the virus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Malta is<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>struggl<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0with rising COVID-19 cases<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>he Superintendent of Public Health has recently said that the\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>situation is serious<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0and warned that the number of people being treated\u00a0<\/span>in hospitals<\/span>\u00a0has also increased.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Government\u00a0has to\u00a0do more to curb the spread of the pandemic and if not\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>hospitalisations<\/span>\u00a0will increase, deaths will\u00a0<\/span>follow<\/span>\u00a0and it will\u00a0<\/span>be blamed<\/span>\u00a0for not\u00a0<\/span>doing enough<\/span>\u00a0to suppress the virus. The economy will continue to take a hit and schools will have to operate fully on online learning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Several steps are necessary to manage the current situation.<\/span>\u00a0The government\u00a0<\/span>would have to<\/span>\u00a0commit itself to maximum suppression, aiming to stop community transmission and keep\u00a0<\/span>the number<\/span>\u00a0of cases as low as possible. To support this, we all need clear and real messaging from the Government on the number of daily cases and tests as well as on how many cases are arising from hotspots. Most of all, we need transparency on the underlying data and blunt honesty from the authorities about the difficult position we are in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some have suggested that letting young people become infected might help boost immunity in the population. However, young people can also become seriously ill and can pass\u00a0<\/span>on the<\/span>\u00a0virus to elderly and vulnerable individuals they\u00a0come into contact with. We have a collective\u00a0<\/span>responsibility<\/span>\u00a0to watch out for these members of our community and make them feel valued and supported by keep on following the guidance and changing our\u00a0<\/span>behaviour<\/span>\u00a0to avoid risky situations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe\u00a0<\/span>new\u00a0<\/span>restrictions should be introduced and sectors that will suffer as a result should continue receiving economic packages. For those feeling hopeless in the face of this pandemic, science is giving us reason for cautious optimism. Mass testing or a vaccine\u00a0<\/span>might<\/span>\u00a0get\u00a0<\/span>us back<\/span>\u00a0to a more normal version of daily life. But these require time to deliver. In the meantime, the government must seriously act<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0make tough choices\u00a0<\/span>for the benefit of the country and its population.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Malta is\u00a0struggling\u00a0with rising COVID-19 cases.\u00a0The Superintendent of Public Health has recently said that the\u00a0\u2018situation is serious\u2019\u00a0and warned that the number of people being treated\u00a0in hospitals\u00a0has also increased.\u00a0 The Government\u00a0has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4045,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[185],"issuem_issue_categories":[7],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/4043"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/4043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4049,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/4043\/revisions\/4049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=4043"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=4043"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=4043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}