Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1279544
grounded, he may have discovered that his rush to lift restrictions has now left everybody worse off. In short, he may well have taken a gamble, which failed to pay off. Moreover, by not publishing the risk assessments which accompanied the lifting of measures, Abela is leaving people in doubt whether he was re- ally following expert advice. One major problem for Abela is that he know finds himself political- ly damaged by his association with MHRA boss Tony Zahra, who had branded COVID-19 cautiousness as 'Project Fear', or Fortina boss Mi- chael Zammit Tabona, who recently called on government to decrease the number of swab tests, which he blamed for the spike in COVID-19 figures. 5. He went on holiday when people wanted reassurance Political leaders are expected to provide leadership in their country's moment of need. Being here and leading the fightback is the least one would expect from a sitting Prime Minister in a country anxious about a spike in new cases. He is also expected to lead by ex- ample, and one may argue that non-essential travel is in itself a risky activity which is at best avoided. But as Malta registered its highest ever batch of COVID-19 cases – 72 – Robert Abela was at the Marina di Ragusa in Sicily, where he enjoys boating weekends on his personal boat. Save for his quick return on Sunday to address Labour audiences on One TV, Robert Abela was offi- cially on holiday from the 11 August, during the same days which saw re- cord numbers of new cases. To add insult to injury, last Satur- day, the PM was pictured in Ragusa, Sicily doing spinning classes, as Mal- ta suffered its highest ever increase in COVID-19 cases. Abela's noncha- lance was contrasted with the resig- nation of Ireland's national tourism authority, Michael Cawley, after Catherine Martin, the Irish tourism minister, expressed disappointment that Cawley had not acted in solidar- ity with the industry by flying to Italy when "tourism and hospitality have suffered significant losses since the start of this pandemic". When Chris Fearne shrugged off questions on Abela's holiday while announcing new restrictions on businesses, that rubbed more salt in the wound. Not only did Fearne re- frain from defending the indefensi- ble… but he could not help laughing the questions off while saying "If you keep asking the same questions, you will receive the same answers," on questions unrelated to COVID-19. Abela's absence from that momen- tous press conference further boost- ed the stature of his leadership rival, who was there to face the music and reassure the public in the country's moment of need. maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 AUGUST 2020 NEWS ANALYSIS COVID-19 blunders