Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1319911
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS COVID-19 COVID-19: Three more deaths, 49 new cases LAURA CALLEJA MALTA has registered 49 new cas- es of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, the Health Authorities have announced. Information released by the Health Ministry on Facebook shows that there were 101 recoveries, bringing the total of active cases to 1,706. Three more people have died with the virus, bringing the death toll up to 177. Today's cases are still being inves- tigated but from the cases discov- ered yesterday, 34 cases were family members of previously known cases, 19 were contacts of positive work colleagues, four were from direct contact with other positive cases and four were from social gatherings. 2,446 swabs were conducted in the last 24 hours, with a grand total of 469,853 swabs having been conduct- ed since the start of the pandemic. Malta has registered 11,303 corona- virus cases since the start of the pan- demic in March. Three more deaths announced on Tuesday The first case was a 99-year-old woman who tested positive for COV- ID-19 on 8 December and died on Monday at Mater Dei Hospital. The second case was a 94-year-old woman who tested positive on 9 De- cember and died on Monday at Ma- ter Dei Hospital. The third case was an 86-year-old man who tested positive for COV- ID-19 on 28 November and died this morning at Mater Dei Hospital. The ministry expressed its sympa- thy with the relatives of the victims and appealed on people to continue adhering to the preventive meas- ures. NICOLE MEILAK SCHOOL measures tackling COVID-19 cost gov- ernment an additional €30 million throughout the scholastic year, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana con- firmed yesterday. During a press conference at the Żabbar Primary School, Caruana revealed that the €30 million was spent primarily on transport accessibility to make sure students don't congregate on school buses. He added that the expenditure also covered all equipment allowing schools to carry out regular tem- perature and other virus-related checks, including supervision to ensure social distancing. "While we looked to tackle jobs in other expenses, through this we're looking at the future of our chil- dren," he said. Education Minister Justyne Caruana, also present, mentioned how a working group was created together with experts and unions to understand what's needed in schools for children to continue their education. "The next step is to continue encouraging children to attend school," she said. "From the government's side we're doing all the necessary investments, but who has no need to re- main at home should be going to school.". School absenteeism has been on the rise throughout the scholastic year, with 11.5% of students failing to attend school on Monday with proper justification. This figure reached a worrying 45.19% of Virtual School students, with 216 students from a cohort of 478 failing to attend online lessons. Coronavirus school measures cost government €30 million • 49 new cases • 101 recoveries • 1,706 active cases • 2,446 swab tests in past 24 hours COVID-19 vaccine could be available in Malta before the end of 2020 KURT SANSONE THE COVID-19 vaccine pro- duced by Pfizer and BioNTech is expected to get authorisation by the European Medicines Agency on 21 December, a week earlier than planned. The agency said on Tuesday that it has brought forward a special meeting to give the fi- nal go-ahead after the compa- ny yesterday evening passed on additional data requested by its experts. The meeting was originally scheduled for 29 December but has now been brought forward to Monday. "The CHMP (human med- icines committee) will con- clude its assessment at the earliest possible time point and only once the data on the quality, safety and effective- ness of the vaccine are suffi- ciently robust and complete to determine whether the vaccine's benefits outweigh its risks," EMA said. Once the CHMP recom- mends a marketing author- isation, the European Com- mission will then fast track its decision-making process with a view to granting a market- ing authorisation valid in all EU and EEA Member States within days. The Pfizer-BioNTech vac- cine has already been ap- proved for distribution in the UK and the US. Health Minister Chris Fearne had told MaltaToday that once the vaccine is au- thorised rollout would start immediately and Malta could expect to receive its first batch of vaccines within a week. Originally, the expected ar- rival of the vaccine in Malta was the beginning of January but with EMA advancing its approval process, the coun- try could possibly be looking at and end-of-year delivery of vaccines. European Commission Pres- ident Ursula von Der Leyen welcomed the news. "Every day counts. We work at full speed to authorise COVID-19 vaccines that are safe and ef- fective," she said, adding that the first European citizens could start getting vaccinated before the end of 2020.