The 118 migrants rescued at sea by the Armed Forces of Malta yesterday will be tested for COVID-19 tomorrow, Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci confirmed in today’s COVID-19 press briefing.

A sinking dinghy packed with people was spotted in Malta’s search and rescue zone including ten women, five children and a newborn child.

The migrants were brought to shore by the AFM and are currently undergoing two weeks of quarantine, before being transferred to Ħal Far or Ħal Safi detention centre.

A total of over 100 rescued migrants tested positive for the virus so far.

However, the health ministry is now excluding them from total active cases in a controversial move, with the reasoning being that they wouldn’t have come into contact with people in the community so listing them as active cases could skew the numbers.

Malta recorded 1,699 sea arrivals for the first half of 2020 and now intends to acquire a ship to quarantine migrants on, as was done in May after around 425 people were rescued on kept on Captain Morgan and Supreme vessels. 

But with over 1,500 pending applications of asylum seekers, these new arrivals will undoubtedly put a strain on Malta’s resources.

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