The Civil Society Network (CSN) is appealing for the closure of the airport and a temporary lockdown in light of skyrocketing COVID-19 cases in Malta.

This comes as Malta just confirmed an astonishing 510 new cases in the last 24 hours to reach a total of 3,182 active cases.

Whilst CSN acknowledges the economic impact of a lockdown, they have stated that “the need for such a drastic measure has come about because of the lack of measures that Malta had in the past months.”

“This is not a reactive measure to the cases which emerged recently. A temporary lockdown should have been effected a while ago,” they continued. “But the dramatic rise in the past days is evidence of out-of-control spread in the community. When the rate of positive cases reaches 3% or 5%, scientific advice recommends a lockdown to combat the spread which is likely not keeping up with contact tracing efforts. Today, the rate in Malta is over 10%.”

Malta has been one of the countries to have the least strict rules regarding COVID-19 – and the island may now be facing the grave consequences of inaction.

Having recorded one of the highest rates of positive cases in the world and one of the worst death rates in the past week, all eyes now turn to the government to see what the island’s next step is in the battle against COVID-19.

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