Prime Minister Robert Abela has ruled out imposing a total lockdown, warning this drastic measure of combating COVID-19 has caused great suffering in other European countries.

“A few miles away from us, in Italy, France and beyond, businesspeople are protesting in the streets because their governments have forgotten them, perhaps because their fiscal situations don’t allow otherwise,” he said today.

“While other countries have protests and lockdowns, we’ve managed to keep the economic wheel turning, protected jobs and are currently funding around half of all private sector workers.”

Abela dismissed rumours of an impending lockdown, saying he has “no idea” where such rumours originated from.

However, he also warned against easing existing restrictions by allowing snack bars to operate as restaurants and allowing people to remove their masks when going for solitary walks in the countryside.

“We can see the tragedies of total lockdowns overseas,” he said. “We’re managing to live life relatively normally with a few restrictions but we cannot let our guard down because things can change.”

“I understand some businesses are suffering but if we go down the path of easing restrictions, what will the impact be? Perhaps next week we’ll have to drastically increase restrictions.”

What do you make of the Prime Minister’s comments?