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LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – 81 migrants were rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta early this morning while three others were found dead. It is believed that the dead migrants are Sudanese and lost their life due to dehydration and exhaustion. The group of migrants who left from Libya, were stranded in a boat in the search and rescue area of Malta, 51 miles from the island of Lampedusa.
The non-governmental organisation Alarm Phone pointed out that if the rescue operation had been immediate, those three people would still survive. The NGO called for an independent investigation into the cause of their deaths.
Sea-Watch, another humanitarian non-governmental organisation accused the Maltese authories of “criminal behaviour” following an order issued to one of three ships in the area, not to intervene until further instructions.
The Maltese authorities ordered a magisterial inquiry to determine the cause of death of the three immigrants. The police from the Migration Section is investigating.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese government has proposed seventeen major investments for the approval of the European Commission under the 345 million ‘Recovery and Resilience Plan’ allocated to Malta.
Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi said the aim is to spend half of the funds on environmental projects and a quarter to digitilise the economy. The Maltese government is planning to spend €41 million on a new Institute for Tourism Studies campus, €50 million to strengthen the healthcare system and 10 million to digitalise Maltàs judicial system, among other programmes. The rest will be spent on various projects.
In a tweet, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expressed support for Maltàs proposed recovery plan and even mentioned some of the key points raised by Azzopardi including sustainable transport, energy-efficiency and the digitalising public administration.
The European Parliament approved the €672.5 billion recovery and resilience facility, and consists of grants and loans to help EU states tackle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne confirmed this afternoon that a 5 year old Maltese girl who died within 24 hours of being taken to Mater Dei Hospital last Saturday was tested positive for COVID-19 after her death.
The Maltese authorities are already investigating the death which is subject to an inquiry and health authorities are carrying out further tests, including an autopsy to verify whether the death was Covid related.
Minister Fearne urged for caution and respect to the privacy of the young girl’s family. However, he said that the young girl died on Saturday afternoon after developing a fever the day before. She was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital in a critical state and died sometime later after being put on a ventilator. He added that in the sake of transparency, authorities will keep the public informed about the autopsy results.
Minister Fearne explained that while the girl had tested negative for Covid-19 upon her admission to hospital, but a second test was “mildly reactive” to the virus. Fearne says that the mildly reactive test result showed that the person came in contact with the virus or contracted the virus in the past.
He added that nobody in the girl’s family was tested positive. The minister said the five -year-old girl was healthy and did not have any other medical conditions.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that although the vaccines do not provide 100% cover from Covid, the results are encouraging given that at the moment only one person is in intensive care unit at Mater Dei Hospital.
Fearne said the highly contagious Delta variant is present in Malta as it is in other countries. He remarked that Malta is close to achieving an 85% herd immunity needed to mitigate the spread of the Delta variant.
The local health authorities confirmed announced 154 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours bringing the total of active cases to 782. Minister Fearne said that 15% of active cases are Maltese residents. Moreover, 90% of all active cases are non-vaccinated.
Justifying the ban on unvaccinated travellers which starts from tomorrow, the Maltese Deputy Prime Minister declared that Malta is only doing what is best to protect the public health. Yesterday, the European Commission expressed its concerns over what it described as a discriminatory rule and against the freedom of movement within the EU countries.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta has registered a new record of positive cases of COVID-19 since last March. The local health authorties announced that in the past 24 hours, 179 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total numer of active cases to 634.
Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne is currently in self-isolation after a family member tested positive for coronavirus. The government said the minister did not test positive, however, he would be adhering to the measures imposed by the health authorities.
Malta is currently experiencing a surge in Covid cases and concerns are being also raised that there might be more foreign students infected with COVID-19. In recent days, the Maltese health authorities identified dozens of foreign students from 12 English schools who were tested positive for COVID-19.
The authorities did not release any details about the nationality of the foreign students stranded in Malta due to last week’s government decision to close all English Language schools by Wednesday, 14th. However, it is known that over 150 Italian students are stuck in Malta, most of them kept in quarantine while others in isolation. The Italian students including other foreign students mainly from Spain and France are currently staying in two hotels; Qawra Palace Hotel in Bugibba and Corinthia Marina in Paceville.
However, all Italian students were transferred to the same hotel in St. Julian’s. According to reports on Facebook, Liguria Region Governor Giovanni Toti spoke on the phone with Italian Foreign Minister Lugi Di Maio to check about the recent developments and when the students are expected to return from Malta. “I thank Minister Di Maio for his interest in the case of the youngsters stuck in Malta”, Toti said. Over last weekend, the Italian Foreign Minister confirmed that the Italian students and staff were transferred from Qawra Palace Hotel to Corinthia Marina Hotel, where other Italian groups confirmed positive to COVID-19 were also staying.

A group of eight youngsters from Imperia – seven boys and a girl from Imperia are being kept in isolation. The group arrived in Malta for a post-graduation vacation at the end of June, but on returning to Italy, while undergoing medical tests at Maltàs international airport, the only one unvaccinated was found positive to COVID-19. As a result the whole group was then placed in isolation.
There is also the financial issue. According to a family member of one of the Italian students stranded in Malta, the families have to cover the addition costs in Malta. “If there will be 14 days left, we have counted an expense of about 14 thousand euros per family”, photographer Adolfo Ranise, father of one of the Imperian students declared.
The Italian Embassy in Malta is following the latest developments very closely, and is in constant contact with the Maltese authorities to ensure that the treatment to all the Italian nationals stranded in Malta meets the standards agreed with the local authorities.
The Italian Foreign Ministry is being asked by family members and local authorties in Italy to activate all diplomatic procedures to allow the repatriation of those students stranded in Malta who were tested negative to COVID-19.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Hundreds of Maltese who support the national football team of Italy yesterday night went out in carcades to celebrate the historic win by Italy against England in the final of the European championships. Most of the celebrations were helf in Sliema and St. Julian’s areas.
Italian nationals residing in Malta gathered in both localities to celebrate this result by honking horns and waving their national flag.
Police were stationed in various areas to control the influx of fans who gathered together to celebrate the 3-2 Italian win against England.
Ahead of Euro 2020’s final match between England and Italy, football fans across Malta and Gozo decorated their balconies with Italian or English flags in support of their respective favourite team.
Football rivalry between English and Italian supporters in Malta goes back to the political tensions from the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Nationalist Party was born directly out of the tensions that existed between English and Italian cultural influences in the late 1900s and one of the party’s founders Enrico Mizzi was court-martialled for his pro-Italian sympathies.
On the other hand, Lord Gerald Strickland’s Constitutional Party believed Malta should remain anchored into British identity. The language issue in 1930 saw Malta descend into violence with Strickland suffering an assassination attempt and Mizzi arrested and later exiled during World War II.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Dozens of Italian students are stranded in Malta following the Maltese government’s decision to close the 30 English language schools on the island due to confirmed positive Covid-19 cases amongst Italian, French and Spanish students. All embassies, including the Italian Embassy in Malta are in contact with the local health authoritiies and the students. All foreign students were requested by the Maltese government to leave Malta by not later than next Wednesday. According to local reports, there are around 50 Italian students who were found positive to COVID-19, while few tens of others who were found part of the same cluster, were ordered to stay in quarantine in a hotel located in St. Julians. Since Monday 5 July, the number of active vases has shot up from 79 to 457. The Health Ministry confirmed that a cluster of English-language students were among the new detected cases. The Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations (FELTOM) and its member schools expressed shock at government’s decision to close down language schools following a spoke in Covid-19 cases. FELTOM said it was “unprepared and shocked by the government’s unexpected and rigid decision to close down” language schools which it said will inevitably lead to significant economic consequences for the entire tourism industry, its employees and its stakeholders.
However, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela today downplayed the cause for concern but stated that the government had to act immediately. “We needed to implement a clinical, but difficult, response, and this was what we did,” Abela said.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese health authorities have announced 109 new cases of Covid-19, the highest recorded since last March. With only two recoveries reported, the total number of known active cases rose to 359. The health authorities added that no deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours. The new cases were identified through 3,164 swab tests: 1,012,577 such tests have been carried out in Malta to date.
According to local reports 20 out of a group of about 80 students who in the last hours have been tested positive for Covid are Italians.
It was reported that the mayor of Molfetta, a village near Bari in Puglia in Italy, has written to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Regional President Michele Emiliano to find a solution to the problem as all Italian students are stranded in Malta and have to leave the island by Wednesday.
(ITALPRESS).

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese government announced this afternoon that as from Wednesday, 14 July, all English language schools will close once again and all peope entering Malta must present an official vaccine certificate. The decision was taken following the announcement of 96 new Covid-19 cases confirmed by the local health authorities. The number of active cases rose to 252 in just few days.
Health Minister Chris Fearne confirmed that the majority of new cases had come from foreigners or Maltese people who were entering Malta from abroad. “A majority of them were unvaccinated as well” he continued.
Children aged between five and twelve must enter Malta with parents or guardians who present a negative PCR test. “These measures have been implemented to protect the Maltese community”, Fearne stressed.
79% of the adult population in Malta has been fully vaccinated, while 84% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. “We aim to reach 85% of fully vaccinated people as soon as possible”, Minister Fearne added.
Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci confirmed the majority of cases had come from people aged between 15 and 30. She also confirmed that 15 of the 96 cases discovered today had been fully vaccinated. 11 cases were of specific variants: seven cases were of the Delta variant and two each were of the Alpha and Gamma variant, she continued.
Minister Fearne appealed to the public to refrain from hosting or attending any illegal parties and confirmed that enforcement would be stepped up for the EURO 2020 final between England and Italy.
(ITALPRESS).