Late night trips on the Gozo Channel ferries may be delayed as the vessels are disinfected on a daily basis, Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri told parliament on Thursday.

He was speaking during the debate on an Opposition motion for the setting up of a parliamentary committee on Gozo.

Speaking on the measures being taken on the sister island in relation to coronavirus, Camilleri warned that if the outbreak escalated new measures could be introduced to protect the population.  

There have been no coronavirus cases in Gozo, but the minister said that if a patient tested positive, he or she would be transferred to Malta. Multiple cases, however, would be treated at Gozo General Hospital. 

Nationalist MP Chris Said who tabled the motion, said his objective was to create a forum to debate important matters related to the sister island, rather than have one-off debates.

The proposed committee would also evaluate the impact of legislation from a Gozitan perspective.

During the debate Opposition leader Adrian Delia reiterated his call for the termination of the hospital concessions agreement, saying the promised 450-bed facility in Gozo had not materialised despite the millions paid by the government to Vitals and Steward Healthcare.

Nationalist MP Kevin Cutajar said the committee should hold some of its meetings in Gozo. 

Former Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana welcomed the motion, but pointed out that the government had already said it would form such a committee, in line with a proposal in the Labour electoral programme.

Caruana said the government's Gozo’s budget allocation for this year was a record high at around €70 million. Economic growth per capita in Gozo was higher than in Malta. The Labour MP acknowledged that salaries in Gozo were lower than in Malta, but said this had to be seen in the context of the fact that the cost of living there was lower.

Her predecessor Anton Refalo criticised the EU accession agreement saying that not enough safeguards had been made to protect Gozo’s regional status.