These are the leading stories in local newspapers this Saturday.

Times of Malta reports that there has been a rise of COVID-19 cases in elderly homes, which have more than doubled to 32 in one week.

The newspaper also reports that 50 Air Malta pilots who were sacked this summer have been offered public sector jobs at salaries of up to €140,000 a year.

The Malta Independent leads with Louis Grech’s testimony at a public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, reporting that the former deputy prime minister denied knowledge of a ‘kitchen cabinet’ pulling the Muscat government’s strings.

The newspaper also cites Charmaine Gauci’s warning during her weekly COVID-19 briefing that virus clusters with work and family settings are on the rise.

L-Orizzont reports that Malta has recorded its first case of a COVID-19 patient retesting as positive after they had been cured.

In-Nazzjon reports that a butcher working at the Marsa slaughterhouse has tested positive for COVID-19.