With rising daily case numbers and health care services struggling to keep up, the government has lost control of the spread of COVID-19 in the country and must stop burying its head in the sand, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.
Grech was speaking during a phone interview broadcast on NET FM, the Nationalist Party’s radio station.
“While Robert Abela tells us not to worry and that the situation is under control, on the other hand we have our Health Minister telling us that health services are in a crisis and at risk of collapsing,” Grech said.
“The politics of bluffing has gotten the Prime Minister and the Labour Party through a lot of things but we cannot play with people’s health and people’s lives.”
Malta reported 102 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, with the number of active cases in the country standing at 1,962. 76 coronavirus patients have died so far.
The PN leader said that while earlier in the pandemic the government’s messaging to keep the curve low had been strong and consistent, the dilution of that message was leading to consistently high case numbers and a contact tracing system that did not have the manpower to corral the rising tide of infections.
“The government has clearly lost control of the situation. The reality is that people are having to have their long-scheduled medical procedures postponed, because there are only so many doctors and nurses to go around,” Grech continued.
“It is not just about beds, but how many people can work to provide the service. If we continue to allow this situation to get out of hand, we will be compromising the health of the population, not just COVID patients, but those who need the services of a working health care system.”
Grech urged the government not to “bury its head in the sand”, insisting that while nobody, the Nationalist Party included, wants a second lockdown, if the situation continued to aggravate a lockdown might become an inevitable solution.
Social pact
Asked about the PN’s proposal of a new social pact, introduced as part of its budget recommendations, Grech said he believed in a country where people who wanted to better their lives but were caught in vicious cycles that were impacting their lives, should be given the space and help to succeed.
“Working as a lawyer for 25 years, I’ve seen the sort of things that hold people back from growing and moving on from difficult situations,” Grech said.
“In a country that is doing well financially and economically, no one who wants to advance should be left behind. A new social pact means that everyone has to do their part so we can truly help people move forward and flourish with support, not only benefits.”
Grech said it was integral that the challenges of housing faced by families be addressed, but not by giving away properties for social accommodation for next to nothing.
“We need to see what people can achieve by themselves and where they want to be and fill in the gaps, even by giving incentives to banks to take those next steps,” he said.
“When you have all social partners on board it adds value and strength to an economy that allows the country and every social group to flourish and be strong.”