Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1231020
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 APRIL 2020 NEWS AVOID QUEUES AND HANDLING OF CASH USE OUR ELECTRONIC CHANNELS Issued by Bank of Valle a p.l.c., 58, Triq San Żakkarija, Il-Belt Valle a VLT 1130. Bank of Valle a p.l.c. is a public limited company regulated by the MFSA and is licensed to carry out the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371 of the Laws of Malta). Talk to us | 21312020 | bov.com Elderly couple stranded on aborted cruise to be returned to Malta AN elderly Maltese couple on an aborted cruise will be allowed to return to Malta after the inter- vention of the Prime Minister. Marthese Bonello and Joseph Mercieca will be collected from the cruise liner they are on, after a medical team sees them and has them quarantined upon arrival. The couple had appealed to the Public Health Superintendent to reconsider her position after re- fusing them permission to disem- bark in Malta. They wrote an open letter to Charmaine Gauci, asking her to reconsider their case. Prime Minister Robert Abela and transport minister Ian Borg intervened in the case, on human- itarian grounds. The couple, both 70, are not in- fected by the coronavirus but fear that the extended voyage to Eng- land, where they would then have to get a repatriation flight home, will put them at greater risk of contracting the virus. Apart from their age, Bonello and Mercieca suffer from respiratory and cardiac conditions that risk giving them health complications if they contract the coronavirus. The couple boarded the cruise ship Columbus on 25 February in Sydney, Australia but on 14 March, the operator aborted the cruise and the ship was ordered to make a non-stop voyage back to the port of Tilburry in the UK. The ship is expected to arrive some 20 miles off Malta on 6 April, where it will take on fuel to continue its journey. The couple had asked permis- sion to be disembarked when the ship stops for refuelling but the Public Health Superintendent ruled out that option. Gauci had said the couple were not infected and not in distress, so they could continue with their journey to the UK and return to Malta via a repatriation flight. The ship was informed by Trans- port Malta that it would be allowed to refuel outside Maltese territori- al waters but denied it permission to disembark the two passengers. Restrictions on incoming passen- gers have been in place since last month as the country tries to con- tain the spread of the coronavirus. Joseph Mercieca and Marthese Bonello (inset) are currently on the cruise ship Columbus that will be passing off Malta on 6 April