Servizz-gov is evidence of public service efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic, chief permanent secretary Mario Cutajar said on Wednesday.

Addressing a news conference, Cutajar said that in just one month, freephone 153 answered 93,000 calls, two-thirds of which were not relating to COVID-19.

This was in spite of fewer agents servicing the line since a number were helping with the 111 phone service.

The service also experienced a 32% increase in traffic to its electronic site, with 125,000 people accessing some of the 1,000 government services offered by the site.

Cutajar said that since the service was launched five years ago, it was the main provider of government services.

He referred to the unprecedented investment made in the past years to strengthen technological infrastructure and the clear vision which led to public services being accessible 24 hours a day throughout the year.

Servizz.gov CEO Winston Pirotta said that an average of 86 agents were answering the public’s calls on freephone 153.
 
The most common questions about the pandemic related to parental benefits (5,042 calls), followed by unemployment and medical benefits.

Popular non-COVID-19 related questions related to social security (19,528 calls) and tax (14,362 calls). 

Pirotta said the Servizz.gov Facebook page now includes a chatbot in English for replies to COVID-19 related queries.