Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1231020
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 APRIL 2020 NEWS has no direct relation to the case of yesterday but he lives in the same area. The patient has been isolated and the five people who live in the same area have been placed in quarantine. He developed symptoms of a sore throat and cough on 30 March. 6. A 28-year-old foreign woman who lives in Malta but was not working. She was symptomatic on 1 April with fever and a runny nose and contact tracing of her con- tacts is being carried out. 7. A 24-year-old foreign man who is a Maltese resident. He developed symptoms includ- ing a cough and runny nose on 24 March. He lives with six other people and contact trac- ing of these people and at his place of work is being carried out. The people living with him are in quarantine. 8. A 31-year-old male health- care worker. On 3 April he developed symptoms of fever. The person who lives with him is in quarantine and contact tracing of staff and patients who could have been exposed to the virus is being carried out. 9. A 35-year-old man who is a foreigner and resides in Mal- ta. He developed symptoms of fever, pain and symptoms of a cold on 1 April. He lives with three other foreigners and they are in quarantine. We are also carrying out a risk assess- ment at his place of work. 10. A 66-year-old Maltese man who was admitted to MDH for an unrelated mat- ter requiring an operation. He was tested as part of the routine screening of people admitted to hospital and was found to be positive. Contact tracing of staff and patients is being carried out. 11. A 40-year-old Maltese woman who developed symp- toms of fatigue and headache on 28 March. Contact trac- ing of her family is being car- ried out and two other family members have been tested and are negative. She was not working. The number of people that have recovered are only two so far because health authorities are assessing the best way to test for recovery. "There are various protocols which can be followed based on evidence; either you test immediately and there must be two consecutive negative tests within 24 hours, or else you allow some time to pass and re-test. So at the moment we are waiting for the time to pass to re-test these patients. Once we review these patients we will give you the information whether they have eliminated the virus," Prof. Gauci said. Prof. Gauci said cases are increasing slowly and the su- perintendence had to use all measures so that there aren't a large number of cases all at once. "At the moment we are managing to cope with the amount of people being ad- mitted to hospital so that is the aim of the situation: to be able to treat the people prop- erly." Prof. Gauci said the screen- ing strategy at MDH was iden- tifying people carrying the vi- rus as soon as possible. As soon as there is a sus- pected person who might be infected, they are examined, tested and isolated. During yesterday's press briefing, questions were asked of various complaints from Wasteserv workers at Tal-Kus, Gozo that were not being pro- vided with the necessary per- sonal protective equipment. Wasteserv said later it had provided high visibility cloth- ing, FFP3 face masks, safe- ty goggles and safety gloves, and other personal protective equipment, such as protec- tive coveralls, half-face and full-face masks and hearing protection, depending on the tasks being performed in ac- cordance with the measures outlined by the relevant risk assessment. A routine inspection on Sat- urday morning confirmed that all personal protective equip- ment was readily available and being provided to all person- nel in accordance with the risk assessments. PN reshuffle NATIONALIST Party leader Adrian Delia yesterday an- nounced a new parliamentary reshuffle. Delia said on Net FM his re- shuffle will not be just a case of musical chairs, but a proper shadowing of ministers with titles that reflect the wider re- mits of the traditional portfo- lios. The last years have seen the departure of David Stellini, who returned to his job at the European Parliament; the oth- er Gozo MP Marthese Portel- li, who took up a post with the construction lobby, as well as former Opposition leader Si- mon Busuttil, who was hand- picked by EPP leader Manfred Weber to become the EPP secretary-general. New MPs this year include 6PM chairman Ivan Bartolo, now digital society spokes- person and the former Radio 101 host David Thake, now shadow minister for the en- vironment and the climate emergency, as well as Gozo MP Kevin Cutajar, who will shadow lands, construction and planning. Jason Azzo- pardi, formerly environment spokesperson, gets the justice portfolio while Karol Aqui- lina will be spokesperson for good governance. Chris Said will shadow the Gozo portfo- lio but also take constitutional reforms in his hands.