Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1395902
SUNDAY • 25 JULY 2021 • ISSUE 1134 • PUBLISHED SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY maltatoday Hydrogen pipe dream? NO PUNCHES PULLED 'Sriep...'director Martin Bonnici: "let's face it, Malta hasn't produced a good film yet INTERVIEW MT2 TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT MATTHEW AGIUS KNOWN for their ubiquitous food delivery scooters and cheap taxis, mobility operator Bolt could be facing an uncer- tain future in Malta if a court request filed on Friday is up- held. In two separate applications filed before the commercial court, one of the sharehold- ers in the company operating Bolt's mobile-app technology – TXF Tech – has sued the same company and TXF Tunisia Holding for €1.6 million, over the non-payment of two con- stitutions of debt. The shareholder, Debono Group Holdings, owners of the Toyota dealership in Malta amongst other concerns. Debono Group accused Bolt of being "legally insolvent" despite its operations appear- ing to be going swimmingly, on Maltese streets, and suggested that the profits generated by the oper- ation are not being channelled towards the payment of its debts. TXF Tech is Bolt's operat- ing partner in Malta, Cyprus and Tunisia, and a share- holder in BLT Malta and BLT Food Malta, where it runs the food delivery, taxi hailing, and scooter-renting platforms. The company outsources courier and driver services to self-em- ployed workers and recruit- ment agencies. JAMES DEBONO digs deep into Malta's future H-ready gas pipeline plan 4-5 Bolt 'insolvent': partner calls in €1.6 million debt A PINT WITH IRVINE WELSH Bolt from the blue: popular mobility operator facing legal dissolution request €1.95 3 PAGE 2 Speaking to the interviewers of this year's star of the Malta Book Festival, author of Filth and Trainspotting Inside MT3 Gauci mum on five-day COVID isolation MATTHEW VELLA THE public health superin- tendence has ignored questions about a five-day self-isolation period accorded to vaccinated health workers who come in contact with positive COVID cases, as employers raise ques- tions about extended public health restrictions. Prof. Charmaine Gauci issued the order in March 2021 allow- ing essential workers at Mater Dei Hospital who come into contact with a person diagnosed as suffering from COVID-19 – but who have completed a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine – to submit to a five-day period of quarantine only, instead of the standard 14-day period, as long as they test negative after a PCR test on the fifth day following ex- posure. A request for comment to Prof. Gauci through the health min- istry's spokesperson as to why the exception remains in force despite the wide vaccine cover- age across the nation, went un- answered. Prof. Gauci allows medical pro- fessionals at Mater Dei Hospital who are vaccinated, are asymp- tomatic, reside in a household where all members are asymp- tomatic, and not in domiciliary contact with any other individ- ual known to be either positive for COVID-19, to self-isolate for only five days after obtaining a negative PCR test. Earlier this week, Malta's Chamber of Commerce hit out at blanket quarantine meas- ures that were failing to distin- guish between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people, calling them "totally unreasonable". The Chamber said that with more than 81% of the adult pop- ulation fully vaccinated, it was unreasonable to put secondary contacts of confirmed COV- ID-19 cases under a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Entire households of fully vac- cinated people face 14-day man- datory quarantine if children are in contact with a COVID-posi- tive case. Chamber President Marisa Xuereb said quarantine letters were being issued to all members of a household without spec- ifying personal identification. "Clearly, no checks are being made on whether the members of that household are vaccinated or not."