Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1312765
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The second case was a 75-year-old wom- an who was confirmed positive on the 11 November, and died at the Good Samaritan Long Term Facility yesterday. An 83-year-old who was confirmed pos- itive on the 2 November, died earlier this morning at the Good Samaritan Long Term Facility. The fourth death was an 82-year-old who was confirmed positive on the 11 November, and died earlier today at Mater Dei Hospital. The final death was an 88-year-old who was confirmed positive on the 16 November and died earlier today at Mater Dei Hospital. Malta has registered 133 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, the Health Authorities announced earlier on Tuesday. Information released by the Health Minis- try on Facebook shows that there were 107 recoveries, bringing the total of active cases to 2,082. Today's cases are still being investigated but from the cases discovered yesterday, 16 cases were family members of previously known cases, five were contacts of positive work colleagues, three were direct contacts of positive cases, and one was from social gatherings. 2,664 swabs were conducted in the last 24 hours, with a grand total of 409,981 swabs having been conducted since the start of the pandemic. Malta has registered 9,137 coronavirus cas- es since the start of the pandemic in March. KURT SANSONE MINISTERIAL portfolios are still being finalised after last weekend's Cabinet re- shuffle, which also included the creation of three new ministries. Cabinet secretary Mario Cutajar, who is also principal permanent secretary, said the distribution of responsibilities and relevant government entities was expected to be finalised in the coming days. He was speaking on One TV's Follow Up on Monday night with reference to the behind-the-scenes work currently being undertaken by the civil service to affect the relevant administrative changes resulting from the reshuffle. Cutajar said that given the extent of the exercise, a separate undertaking was underway to pair the line items in the budget with the relevant ministries be- fore Budget 2021 is put to the final vote in parliament. Prime Minister Robert Abela reshuf- fled his Cabinet last Saturday, expand- ing the list of ministries by three. The elderly now have a specific min- istry run by Michael Farrugia dedicated to them. This sector previously fell in the remit of former parliamentary sec- retary Silvio Parnis within the Solidarity Ministry. Parnis no longer forms part of Cabinet. Another new ministry is the one awarded to former tourism minister Ju- lia Farrugia Portelli, who now captains the ministry for inclusion and quality of life. The ministry encompasses dis- ability, which previously fell in Parnis's remit and the parliamentary secretariat for sports run by Clifton Grima, who was retained. The third new ministry is that award- ed to former education minister Owen Bonnici, who now is in charge of re- search and innovation. But apart from these significant ad- ditions, Abela's reshuffle also included some changes to the responsibilities of other ministries. Notably, newcomer Miriam Dalli will have Malta Enterprise within her remit that includes energy and sustainable development. Another change was the transfer of the parliamentary secretariat for con- struction run by Chris Agius, from Ian Borg's infrastructure ministry to Aaron Farrugia's environment ministry. The Economy Ministry run by Sil- vio Schembri lost Malta Enterprise but gained the Lands Authority from Borg and the financial services sector previ- ously under the remit of former parlia- mentary secretary Clayton Bartolo, who is now tourism minister. All these changes and others will have to be reflected in the finalised portfolios. Ministerial portfolios still being finalised COVID-19 deaths total 122