Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1275149
4 MATTHEW AGIUS THE Medical Association of Malta has postponed industri- al action set to start tomorrow to Wednesday, after a meeting yesterday with Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne. MAM and the Health Minis- try have agreed in principle on a draft text on how to address pending issues, particularly the problems related to the dangers of mass events, and how to tackle a new surge in COVID-19 cases so as to avoid unnecessary risks to medical professionals and the general public. The association said the agreement builds on past suc- cesses but takes in considera- tion lessons learnt in the past two weeks. However, as this document requires ratification, a meeting has been scheduled for Tues- day afternoon to iron out de- tails. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 AUGUST 2020 NEWS Cases 845 Local 688 Active 171 Recoveries 665 Deaths 9 Swabs 128,747 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19 MASSIMO COSTA THE fears of a secondary wave from the coronavirus pandem- ic is undermining Labour's core support as a confluence of events is putting paid to trium- phalist statements of "winning the war" on COVID-19. As a renewed spike of 20 cases from the Hotel Takeover party at the Radisson in St Julian's sparked the charge from doc- tors for the cancellation of mass events – a market that was pri- marily aimed at incoming tour- ism – matters were complicat- ed when 66 from a group of 94 rescued migrants at sea, tested positive for the virus. A second group of 19 from 33 who dis- embarked on Wednesday also tested positive. The arrivals sparked new fears concerning Malta's debate on migration and security in the towns where cheap housing attracts unemployed asylum seekers, and the Labour govern- ment's attitude towards public health concerns on COVID-19. Labour's electorate is cate- gorically the most concerned about migration: in MaltaTo- day's latest survey, the main concern of PL voters (18.3%) was migration, a concern also mainly shared by those who live in Labour strongholds in the southeast (18.9%) and southern harbour (18.6%), and those with secondary (17.6%) and post-secondary education (18.2%). There is less or no concern among PN voters (6.5%), ter- tiary educated voters (6.7%), or those living in the north (9.4%). That does not lessen the grav- ity of COVID-19 among mi- grants leaving Libyan shores. Until late May, Libya had con- trolled its coronavirus cases, but the North African country experienced a sharp increase in cases, with active cases cur- rently hovering around the 2,300 mark. Libyan authorities initiated travel and mobility restrictions in March 2020 aimed at curb- ing the spread of COVID-19, as well as imposing a three-day lockdown as a preventive meas- ure during the Muslim feast of Eid on the 24 May. Then, with an outbreak in Sebha on 4 June of 62 new cas- es, authorities imposed a com- plete lockdown in the southern region of the country shortly after. A Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) study of the mo- bility restrictions on migrants shows that in 98% of the lo- cations, migrants who rely on daily labour were reported to have been negatively affected due to the pandemic induced slowdown in economic activ- ities. Libya's UN-backed Gov- ernment of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli will now im- pose a full lockdown in areas of the country it controls, after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. Despite the lockdown, cross- ings are not expected to stop; militias who control peo- ple-smuggling operations are not expected to curb their op- erations, which sell places on the usually overcrowded ves- sels, often leaving smugglers with a $57,000 profit margin on each boat put out at sea. With no end in sight for mi- grant arrivals, the Maltese gov- ernment is looking to set up ships as quarantine facilities for those rescued at sea. A similar tactic employed in June to strong-arm Europe into relocating migrants rescued at sea, turned into a five-week im- passe that ended with some 400 migrants disembarked in Malta – at a cost of €1.7 million. Italian authorities are also em- ploying the same tactics, with the ship Moby Zaza, docked off Porto Empedocle in Sicily. What is clear on social media is that even Labour ministers are feeling the heat from public health concerns and outbreaks of racism or concerns about security after documented ep- isodes of assaults on elderly people. In one Facebook post, veteran minister Evarist Barto- lo – currently in talks with the GNA to curb smuggling oper- ations – extolled Labour's "in- trinsic socialist value" of treat- ing humans of all races equally, and that while Malta cannot cope with the migrant influx, the island could not lose its humanity. "Socialism is against apartheid," he said. But the onslaught of com- ments taking him to task could not mask the problem La- bour has with its own electorate on im- migration. Some told Bartolo that the party had lost its socialist values by becom- ing a mercenary to business interests; but many others were outright racist com- ments calling African migrants "trash", "invaders" and "rap- ists". It was the week of the 'Ryan Fenech' video, in which a man who claimed his parents had been assaulted by an African man posted a 15 minute tirade against "blacks". "We don't need any of them," he said. The scurrilous and emotive rant provoked well over a 1,000 comments on the post. kazzopardi@mediatoday.com.mt Doctors industrial COVID-19 is making Labour's migration problem worse 'Government must follow public health directives on mass events' – Medical Association of Malta Ryan Fenech: 'emotive' racism gone viral Evarist Bartolo: 'Socialism is not apartheid', but his Facebook followers don't seem to care Immigration MaltaToday Survey concerns barometer July 2020 Highest amomg: 18.9% Those living in the southeast region 18.6% Those living in the southern harbour region 18.3% Those who voted Labour in 2017 18.2% Those with post-secondary education 17.6% Those with secondary education Lowest among: 9.4% Those living in the northern region 6.7% Those with a tertiary education 6.5% Those who voted PN in 2017 (more concerned about 'corruption')