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3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 APRIL 2021 NEWS COVID-19 64 new cases of COVID-19 were registered on Tuesday, the health ministry has said. 219,161 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been admin- istered until Monday. Of these, 60,096 were second doses. Total recoveries stand at 28,416, while total cases registered stand at 29,343. There are 528 active COVID-19 cases. No deaths were recorded in the last 24-hours. The total number of deaths is 399. 2,164 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, bring- ing the total number of swabs to 822,024. Malta is fast to vaccinate elderly, but rest of Europe lags behind Just five EU countries have met a European Commission goal to vaccinate 80 percent of people over the age of 80, Malta being an exception in the entire EU. Only a few of those reporting have managed to vaccinate 80 percent of their health and social care workers, Brussels newspaper Politico reported in a compilation of vaccine sta- tistics. The EU's vaccination efforts have been slow, with member states individually managing their own vaccination cam- paigns. But the campaign was hampered by vaccine shortages: As- traZeneca came up millions of doses short on its projected first-quarter deliveries; and Johnson & Johnson will deliver its first doses at the end of April. The EU has a lot more work to meet the Commission's goal of vaccinating 70% of its adult population by the end of the summer. On average, less than 60% of people over that age have received one dose, according to the most recent data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Con- trol (ECDC) from March 28. 40% of adults in Malta have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose. By the end of March, the EU expected to have at least 150 million vaccines rolled out. BioNTech/Pfizer delivered 67 million doses as of 31 March, opening up a new plant to deliver up to 200 million vaccines in the second quarter. Moderna met its target of supplying 10 million doses in the first quarter. But Oxford/AstraZeneca barely met its 80- 100m target by end-March. Citing issues at its Belgian plant, AstraZeneca dramatically reduced that goal to 31 million doses. EU officials doubt the company will meet its target to supply 180 million doses to the bloc by the end of June. Johnson & Johnson still hasn't delivered any doses, although its contract said it would only begin deliveries on April 1 at the earliest. IDT Biologika, a German company, was newly contracted to bottle the vaccines starting in mid-March, but these doses still need to complete quality checks that take about four weeks. At the end of March, Hungary received half a million dos- es of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and 1.1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm/Beijing, according to the latest da- ta from the ECDC. And Slovakia received 200,000 doses of Sputnik in early March. Some EU countries aren't using all of the doses they have. Some are holding back second doses to fully vaccinate peo- ple, while others are simply rolling out the vaccines slowly. Bulgaria and the Netherlands, for example, are sitting on more than 34% of their available doses, according to the most recent ECDC data. 64 new cases and 67 recoveries in past 24 hours THE current practice of free-for- all boarding on commercial flights, with random swabbing on arrival, is "clearly insufficient and presents sig- nificant risks", the Medical Associa- tion of Malta said in a statement on Tuesday. The doctors' union said the current practice of "board now – check later" presented a significant risk to public health and tourism alike once the number of flights increased. "Prior swab tests or authenticat- able vaccine certificates should be introduced before boarding onto an aircraft to guard against new variants of concern. Unfortunately, should a new variant be imported because of inadequate preventative measures, the whole vaccination process may have to restart from scratch? This would have major im- plications for the economy as well," the MAM said. MAM advised that any re-opening of economic activity should be grad- ual and accompanied by closely mon- itoring and adjusted as necessary, based on sound scientific evidence. Such a gradual process would allow remedial action to be taken prompt- ly and effectively should number rise again, the doctors' union said. MAM cautioned against any easing of restrictions at events where social distancing was difficult or unrealistic before Malta reached herd immuni- ty. "Unfortunately, the Malta tourist authority once again seemed to be planning large commercial parties once again. "These events should be the very last to open and as much as possible after the protective effects of vaccines on such events has been scientifically demonstrated. As the British variant is much more contagious than the previous virus, just one event could lead to hundreds of new cases in a few days," the union said. MAM said this must be avoided at all costs. Last week, the government said that Malta was expecting to welcome tourists towards the beginning of June and provide a €20 million aid package to help restart the industry. Malta Tourism Authority statement The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has denied claims that it is planning large commercial parties. "While the Malta Tourism Au- thority is working tirelessly to have Malta's tourism sector operating in a gradual manner, the Authority firmly believes that this should not be done at the expense of the health and safe- ty of the tourists who will be visiting the Maltese Islands, or even at the expense of the health and safety of all those who are employed within the industry and the general public," the MTA said. The MTA said the tourism recovery plan was being presented responsibly and emphasised sustainable tourism. Doctors say random swabbing on commercial flights presents 'significant risk' to public CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Prime Minister said the cautious approach will prioritise different sectors, primarily edu- cation. In an interview on One Radio on Tuesday morning, Abela said the authorities will adopt a flexible ap- proach to reduce restrictions or in- crease them, depending on how the pandemic develops. He insisted the plan to gradually lift measures is being finalised and will be announced shortly. "This will not be an aggressive opening but a cautious one… but I am positive because the decisions be- ing taken are based on what science is telling us," he said. Stricter measures were introduced last month in response to rising in- fection rates and higher hospitalisa- tions as a result of COVID-19. The measures were tightened further ahead of Easter weekend. The restrictions, which include limiting family gatherings to two households and public gatherings to two people, will last until 11 April. Abela urged continued vigilance as the country's vaccination pro- gramme remains ahead of most EU countries. The Prime Minister said that gov- ernment will be looking at another strategy to help businesses recover in the months to come. 'This will not be an aggressive opening'

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