The government has responded to the pandemic by taking “extreme” measures in every direction, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday, saying that authorities had failed to provide a measured response to rising COVID-19 numbers. 

Speaking during a radio interview broadcast on NET FM, Grech said while virus cases numbers were rising everywhere, the government had taken an “all or nothing approach” that showed a lack of governance in controlling the pandemic. 

Malta has made vaccination mandatory for travellers who do not wish to spend 14 days and €1,400 on quarantine and shut down English language schools after several clusters of cases were detected among their students. 

“First they let students, many of whom were unfortunately not vaccinated, come in and do as they please and now we have migrated to the other extreme where we do not want to let anyone in the country unless they are vaccinated,” he said. 

“This is a crisis for citizens who wish to travel not only for leisure, as is their right to, but also those who need to do so for work or to visit their families and loved ones.”

“Every day I hear from people who simply do not know what to do because the government cannot answer their questions. They have once again lost control and they don’t have a solution to the situation,” he continued. 

'We have been cleaning up our house'

Discussing the closure of the Nationalist Party’s general council yesterday, Grech said it was high time that the two parties compete “for a race to the top and not a race to the bottom”.

“We really need to start competing as two parties aiming to be better than the other and not tell people to vote for us because we are not as bad as the Labour party,” he said.

“This in essence is what the PN has been doing, we have been cleaning and preparing our house in order to invite everyone in and turn the party into a vehicle that facilitates change in this country.”

He added that the party was committed to renewal for making space for younger blood to occupy top posts within the structure, such as electing Mark Anthony Sammut as president of the general council and Michael Piccinino as the party's prospective secretary general.

“Change is about giving an opportunity for people to keep doing the work they were before, make space for people who left the party to come back, those who’ve never been part of the movement to join for the first time and for those who’ve been in top roles for a long time to pass the baton and leave important roles in the party for a new generation to exact change in our country.”