The government will be announcing additional measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 after the country registered a record 510 new cases, Prime Minister Robert Abela told parliament this afternoon. The press conference will be held at 6pm this evening.

Abela was reacting to a request by the Opposition for an urgent debate on the current situation as a definite matter of public urgency.

The new measures, the Prime Minister said, will aim to ensure that medical facilities are able to withstand the present surge in cases, as well as to improve the country’s vaccination capacity. He said that up to 5,000 doses of the vaccine were now being administered every day.

In his request for a debate, Opposition leader Bernard Grech noted that there were now almost 3,200 active cases, adding that the situation was serious enough to merit the opening of a fifth ITU ward. He called on the government to take decisive measures to address the situation.

Abela said that given that he would be announcing new measures this evening, it did not make sense to hold a debate today, suggesting that this take place on Thursday morning instead.

The latest measures come less than a week after the government announced new measures, including the closure of restaurants and limits on the number of people that can meet in private residences.

Abela has been facing criticism over what many have described as a lack of enforcement and mixed signals about the severity of the pandemic. Earlier today, Grech insisted that the government had lost control of the situation, and called for a Public Health Emergency to be declared.

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