Updated 8.50pm, adds MHRA statement

The latest COVID-19 measures announced on Thursday afternoon are “weak, belated and reactive” and do little to address the “true problem” stemming from lack of enforcement, workers’ associations decried. 

Reacting to the series of measures unveiled by Prime Minister Robert Abela, which include restaurants being shut and limits on gatherings and contact sports, the Association of Catering Establishments (ACE) said: “the government in its PR exercise has made a sacrificial lamb out of restaurants”.

In a harsh statement, the association accused the health authorities of bullying small micro enterprises without addressing the real problem.

"It was easy for them to attack the small entrepreneurs rather than address the bullies... Catering establishments, bars and clubs have been the continuous target of the health authorities showing that the ministry is very weak in handling the situation and has no real adequate strategy,”  ACE said. 

The association said it also disagreed with the authorities’ claim that restaurants were behind the spike in infections, saying the situation in households was worse. 

It also criticised the government for failing to give restaurant owners time to sort out stock issues and asked if it was planning to provide refunds for stocks which will go to waste.

The UĦM Voice of the Workers also criticised the government’s decisions, calling them “weak, belated and reactive”. 

Despite the record number of new infections, active cases and increasing mortality rate, the new measures pale in comparison to those taken this time last year when the situation was much less alarming, the union said. 

It also called on the government not to repeat the measure adopted last year when the employees on telework were "discriminated against" as they were not given the allowances due to them.

Employees, including those in the public sector, are being encouraged to work from home to avoid unnecessary contacts with others. 

“It is high time that the government adopts a pro-active approach based on scientific evidence, strict enforcement and public health safeguards. Cutting corners and creating a false sense of security will only result in more deaths and make economic recovery difficult in the long-term,” the union said. 
 
Earlier, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said that while he agreed with the measures which had just been announced, they had been introduced "in panic and too late".

In a statement later, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) noted that the new measures focused on restaurants, leading many businesses in this sector to suffer “yet another major economic blow”.

This was despite the fact that the majority had, over the past difficult year, abided by the protocols imposed. 

It said that the root issues remained unaddressed risking that the outcome of such exercise will be futile leading to more serious consequences in the wider economy as the tourism sector continues to emerge as the major victim of this situation.  

President Tony Zahra insisted that unless enforcement is carried out efficiently and be seen by all that is so, “the situation may get more serious”. 

It is evident, he said, that if protocols and licensing conditions continued to be breached by irresponsible operators and individuals, the situation in the coming months “is going to prove fatal” for honest and hardworking operators and employees working in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors.  

The MHRA said it is also very concerned about the roll-out of the vaccine programme and called upon the government to provide adequate reassurance that Malta becomes one of the first EU states to have its citizens vaccinated. 

“The major political challenge which government needs to shoulder at this stage revolves around whether the latest announced measures will deliver the desired outcomes,” it said.

The government, it said, must “pull up its socks” and focus efforts on enforcement, enhanced economic support to tourism operators - who now could not afford to carry such pressures further, more efficient and target-oriented roll out of the vaccine, and better communication with stakeholders.