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2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 APRIL 2020 NEWS CORONAVIRUS THOMAS Franks Malta Ltd, through the Thomas Franks Feeding Communities project, have worked tirelessly to bring to life a community kitchen project to feed the dedicated doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff during the COVID-19 crisis. The company's priority is to provide fresh, nutritious meals and to keep its location kitchens working for the ben- efit of healthcare workers on the front- line. Thanks to a generous donation from Paddy Power Betfair, Franks Malta Ltd has been able to feed the front-line medical staff at Mater Dei Hospital in Malta. For two weeks, the Thomas Franks' team will be preparing, cooking and packing fresh meals to be delivered to over 300 healthcare staff who are work- ing in one of the ten Covid-19 wards. Yesterday, the staff, including doctors, nurses, cleaners and administrators were able to choose from a variety of meals including a main meat or vegetar- ian meal or a choice of two salads, one meat and one vegetarian option. Over the course of the next two weeks, Thomas Franks will provide over 3000 meals, ranging from Thai red chicken curry, barley beet & spinach risotto, ma- ple glazed gammon, red onion, new po- tatoes & pea salad or a Greek feta salad. Jon Grima, Thomas Franks Malta Chef Director, said he was very proud to be involved in this initiative. "I truly believe we can make a huge difference in this time of need," he said. "We are here to help. We are ready to feed as many people as possible; we are all in this together." As well as providing meals for health- care staff at the Mater Dei Hospital, Thomas Franks Malta have also been delivering hot meals to the most vul- nerable on the island. They teamed up with Time to Eat who deliver their food across the island to organisations such as the YMCA. They are also working with the Cross Culture International Foundation which supports marginal- ised groups and will provide over 700 meals in the next six to eight weeks. Feeding hospital staff on the frontline CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The global economy is project- ed to contract sharply by -3 per- cent in 2020, much worse than during the 2008–09 financial crisis. If the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and contain- ment efforts can be gradually unwound, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2021 as economic activity normalizes. The IMF said policymakers have to implement substantial targeted fiscal, monetary, and financial market measures to support affected households and businesses. "Such actions will help maintain economic rela- tionships throughout the shut- down and are essential to enable activity to gradually normalize once the pandemic abates and containment measures are lift- ed." It said the fiscal response in af- fected countries has been swift and sizable in many advanced economies such as Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. "Fiscal meas- ures will need to be scaled up if the stoppages to economic activ- ity are persistent, or the pickup in activity as restrictions are lift- ed is too weak. Economies facing financing constraints to combat the pandemic and its effects may require external support." In a reaction to the IMF fore- cast, the Economy Ministry not- ed that Malta would be suffering the least COVID-19 economic impact in the EU. It highlighted that while the average GDP contraction in the eurozone will be of 7.5%, Malta, with a negative growth of 2.8%, would only experience a third of the impact. Neighbouring countries would be dealt a much harder blow, it said, with Italy's economy ex- pected to shrink by over 9%, and Spain's by 8%. Germany econ- omy will also experience a -7% GDP growth. A detailed report and analysis on the IMF report will be carried in tomorrow's edition of BusinessToday. Maltese economy expected to grow by 7% in 2021 KURT SANSONE MALTA registered nine cases of COVID-19 overnight, bringing the total to 393, Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said. The total includes three deaths and 44 recoveries since the pan- demic started in March. Gauci said 1,051 swab tests were carried out overnight, bringing the total number of tests to 19,121. The nine new cases include a 71-year-old pensioner and three migrants resident at the Hal Far open centre aged 23, 18 and 25. A 34-year-old woman who works as a carer at an old peo- ple's home was confirmed pos- itive as part of the screening process before she entered the home. She did not have any con- tact with the elderly. The other new cases were of a 50-year-old female, a 48-year- old male, a 30-year-old male, and a 23-year-old British wom- an. In each case contact tracing is taking place. Gauci said Malta's current rate of infection, known as the R factor, stands at 1.5, which is below the global average of 2.2 for COVID-19. This means that an infected person in Malta can transmit the virus to one-and-a- half persons. Gauci said the health authori- ties were working to further re- duce the transmission rate. "This depends greatly on the social distancing and isolation meas- ures in place," she said, urging people to remain indoors as much as possible and avoid con- tact with others. She insisted that despite the single-digit numbers registered over the past few days, there was "no indication that Malta has reached its peak". Coronavirus 'No indication Malta has reached peak' Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci