Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1232859
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 WEDNESDAY • 8 APRIL 2020 • ISSUE 682 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL • PAGE 11 PAGE 16 ANALYSIS Coronavirus Health authorites bracing for toughest week yet No progress in Air Malta talks with pilots, cabin crew on reduced salaries KURT SANSONE MALTA'S health authorities are bracing themselves for an increase in the number of confirmed coronavi- rus cases after 52 new cases of Covid-19 were record- ed between Monday and Tuesday. The surge brings the total of cases registered since the start of the pandemic to 293, with Health Minister Chris Fearne insisting this sudden increase was to be expected. Health authorities are hoping that the increase in confirmed cases will not spike too high, as that would over-burden the health services. Since the pandemic broke, authorities have repeatedly insisted they were hoping to spread out the number of positive cases as much as possible, since that would guarantee they would be able to cope with the cases. One of the new cases concerns an elderly person resi- dent at an old people's home, who has now been isolat- ed. Patients who were in the same ward and staff mem- bers who may have come in contact with have been placed in quarantine. PAGE 5 PAGE 3 PAGE 5 PN reshuffle results in truce amid pandemic Constitutional Court landmark judgement State held responsible for police inaction in domestic violence case Health minister Chris Fearne MATTHEW VELLA THE Union of Cabin Crew executive committee has reportedly broke off from a section of members inside the union which were petitioning members to ac- cept a €1,200 monthly salary from Air Malta. A bid by Air Malta to offer cabin crew members reduced salaries of €1,200 has exposed fault-lines in the Union of Cab- in Crew, as workers scrambled to avoid redundancies and stay on the airline's books. A substantial number of cabin crew employees instructed a lawyer to inform the airline that they are in partial agree- ment with official proposals put forward by Air Malta, where each employee whose principal employment is with the airline and is covered by a collective agreement will receive the reduced salary.