Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1311619
LAURA CALLEJA FAMILY doctors are worried that the Christmas festivities and the traditional bash on New Year's Eve could become red-let- ter days for the transmission of COVID-19. There will be a some "pandem- ic fatigue" towards the end of the year as people will be looking for some extra cheer, and possibly partying, drinking and excess to crown off the dismal year. "I would still keep bars closed, and restaurants should be checked beforehand. As is al- ready done in some restaurants, patrons should be given two hours, and then they should leave," Anthony Azzopardi, pres- ident of the Association of Pri- vate Family Doctors, said. Azzopardi said this would al- low restaurants to accommo- date more patrons for lunch or dinner. "Patrons should be fore- warned that if they do not abide by the rules; then the authorities would come down on them very heavily." Azzopardi said that asking people to go to Valletta to see in the New Year will be a bad idea. "Even if there are separate areas of entertainment, people will mill around and shift from one area to the next: opportunities galore for the virus to spread," he said. And while Christmas is all about tradition and family get-to- gethers, denying people such an occasion would be difficult and actually unenforceable, Azzopar- di admits. "We only have to rely on people's good sense and the respect they have for their elder- ly relatives. It would be indeed a pity if such a family occasion turns into an opportunity for the virus to spread." Azzopardi said that it was "ob- vious" that the fewer people meet, the safer it is. "Only close family members should gather, and only if they are 100% sure they have not been exposed to possible contagion." Azzopardi added that masks and sanitizers should be used all the times except for the actual lunch or dinner. He even advises social distancing. "This will limit the number of people in one house. Should the weather permit, which is quite possible, then setting up a ta- ble outside would be safer. The vast majority of the deaths we have had were among the elderly population. Let us not turn the Christmas dinner into a funeral feast," Azzopardi said. The honorary secretary of the Malta College of Family Doctors, Jason Bonnici, even said that Christmas should not be allowed to turn into 'another summer' where all caution was thrown to the wind. "In the next few weeks begins the hardest part of the pandemic for Malta as the cold settles in and with it, the seasonal respiratory tract infections, in- cluding influenza and in addition COVID-19," Bonnici said. Bonnici said the reason for this was that respiratory tract virus- es thrive more in cold temper- atures, explaining the seasonal surge in cases at this time. Addi- tionally, a recent study, from the experience of countries which have gone through winters be- fore Malta, showed that concur- rent influenza and COVID-19 infections double the mortality from COVID-19. "Rather than a time for com- placency, the next few months are a time to chin up and be dis- ciplined in order to care for the vulnerable, including the elder- ly, and keep the economy going. Only when a vaccination pro- gram for COVID-19 starts will we be approaching the end of the beginning of the pandemic," he said. Bonnici said the current rec- ommendations are that people in the same household should stick together while wearing masks, reducing contact and appropri- ate washing of hands. In contrast, people, even relatives from oth- er households, should maintain social distancing as well as the same wearing of masks, reducing contacts and appropriate wash- ing of hands. Bonnici said that Christmas was ultimately about love and peace. "There are various ways to bring this message across, not least, but not only, with yesterday's and to- day's means and technologies – all these ways will keep the social interaction that is the basis of mental well-being. Caring for the vulnerable, including the elderly, is then the message in action," Bonnici said. 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS Cases 8822 Active 2146 Recoveries 6565 Deaths 111 Swabs 401,904 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19 Doctors fear pandemic fatigue in Christmas could turn deadly CALL FOR TENDERS As part of the project 881831 Empowerment for Diversity (E4D), the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality is requesting submissions for the provision of: REFERENCE: DT-NCPE/03/2020 TENDER TITLE: Service tender for the provision of a qualitative research study on LGBTIQ+ discrimination for the project E4D Any queries should be sent through e-PPS by not later than Saturday, 28 th November 2020 at 4:00pm. An online clarification meeting will be held on Tuesday 24 th November at 1:00pm. Prospective bidders who would like to participate during this clarification meeting, have to register by sending an email to equality@gov.mt, by not later than Monday 23 rd November at 4:00pm. Closing date for submission of tenders is Friday, 11 th December 2020 at 11:00am. All submissions should be carried out on the e-PPS https://www.etenders.gov.mt/epps/home.do NCPE, Gattard House, National Road, Blata l-Bajda ĦMR 9010 Tel: 2295 7850 E-mail: equality@gov.mt Web: www.ncpe.gov.mt Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme 2014-2020 Project part-financed by the European Union Co-financing rate: 80% EU funds; 20% National Funds COVID deaths AUTHORITIES announced the deaths of three COVID-19 patients aged 70, 80 and 82. Their deaths mean 111 virus patients have died so far. There were 141 new cases of COVID-19 between Friday and Saturday, while a further 159 virus patients recovered. The higher number of recover- ies registered saw active cases standing at 2,146. Authorities carried out 3,391 swab tests over the previous 24 hours. A further 6,565 patients have re- covered. Of the 121 virus cases announced on Friday: 21 were work colleagues of known cas- es 20 were family members of known cases 11 were in direct contact with know cases No in- formation was available about the remaining 69 cases an- nounced that day.