Seventy-six people were fined for not wearing face coverings during the first weekend of new mask rules, police said on Tuesday.

Anyone risks a €100 penalty if caught not wearing a mask outdoors after the rule was reintroduced on Saturday to curb COVID-19 cases.

The number of fines issued was lower than in May, just before the rules for mask-wearing outdoors were removed, when police typically issued around  800 fines per week, or 114 a day to those caught breaching the law.

Those fined can lower the penalty to €50 if they choose to pay before court proceedings begin. 

The decision to reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing comes amid an increase in cases, fuelled in Malta by the Delta variant and amid concern about the relatively new and highly transmissible Omicron variant.

However, the Malta College of Pathologists has hit out at the decision, saying the mask rules "don't make sense". 

"Measures lacking scientific evidence will only serve to alienate the public and introduce resentment which in turn introduces the risk that the truly effective practices will be ignored by a disillusioned public," they said.  

They noted that walking outdoors alone or with members of the same household at a good distance from others does not pose a risk of transmission.

Health Minister Chris Fearne has defended the decision to reintroduce the measure, saying it would help protect people against other illnesses, not just COVID-19. 

There are currently 1,406 active cases of COVID-19 in Malta with 20 people with the virus treated in hospital, including two in Mater Dei's intensive treatment unit.