WATCH: Crowds Ignore Minister’s Appeal And Head To Valletta To Watch Fireworks Festival
Despite Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli’s appeal to the public to watch the finale of the Malta International Fireworks Festival at home last Friday, throngs of people still turned up to Valletta to watch it live.
And although the spectacle could have been viewed from several different spots, several people chose to gather at the same area at the Valletta Waterfront, eschewing health advice on social distancing in favour of enjoying the show with other people.
For Philip Fenech, deputy head of the Chambers of SMEs, this shows that the entrainment and leisure industry alone cannot be blamed for the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
“I’m not saying the leisure industry isn’t one of the most stressing and difficult industries to control in the pandemic but it’s very convenient to blame everything on it, seeing as certain people associate the industry with decadence,” he told Lovin Malta.
“There wasn’t one word of criticism when families, including more vulnerable people, gathered in very large amounts in Valletta despite Julia Farrugia Portelli’s repeated calls for people to watch the fireworks from home.”
“I’m not justifying the appalling behaviour we witnessed at certain parties but there have been other clusters, such as in language schools, tourism, summer schools, places of general work and many sporadic cases as we have seen today. If we analyse the figures, it’s clear that there was an underlying factor behind the rise of cases besides the entertainment industry.”
For Fenech, this is a sign of natural human behaviour – how people tend to cluster near each other, even when there are free open spaces and when the health authorities are advising everyone to avoid crowds.
“Valletta has a long coast and one could have seen the fireworks from anywhere, but people still chose to congregate in the area,” he said. “I saw at least 20 Pacevilles in that crowd.”
Meanwhile, Fenech said the leisure industry has responded quickly to new regulations limiting crowd sizes at leisure establishments and mass events.
Philip Fenech (panelist at far right) addresses the leisure indsutry about the new COVID-19 regulations
“The Chamber of SMEs and the MTA recently held an information session for the leisure industry, which was so well-attended that we had to close the door to guests because we had reached the room’s attendance limit as per the new regulations,” he said.
“I’m informed the MTA, police and health authorities conducted well over 300 inspections over the weekend and that some non-compliant establishments were slapped with fines.”
He concluded that it takes two to tango and that it’s not enough for establishments to obey the protocols but people need to follow them too.
Malta, along with several European countries, has seen a surge in new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, prompting the EU’s health agency to urge them to reinstate some restrictive measures so as to contain the spread.
Photo left: Crowds at the Valletta Waterfront last Friday, Photo right: Credit: Malta International Fireworks Festibal
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