A year since Malta’s first case of reported COVID-19, healthcare officials fear now is the most “delicate and worrying” phase as new cases reach record highs just as many start to get restless after 12 months of the pandemic.  

“Had you asked me a year ago whether we would still be grappling with the pandemic, I would have said absolutely not,” ITU specialist Joseph Paul Vella told Times of Malta's 'People of the Pandemic' documentary.  “But the reality is that not only are we still grappling with the pandemic, but this is possibly the most delicate moment.”

Looking back, Vella admitted he was rather sceptical at first and did not think the virus would wreak such havoc. A year later, he describes how together with his colleagues he is now not only tired after working on the frontlines non-stop but disappointed that some people were still not taking the matter seriously.

“As an ITU consultant, what really hurt was New Year’s Eve. I happened to be on call, and it was a particularly busy day. The team was working very hard and I got home at around 10.30pm.

Watch: People of the Pandemic 

“As I was walking home, to my horror and dismay, despite the authorities’ best efforts, I could see people flouting laws all around me. It seemed to me there was a complete disconnect with what I was living in intensive care and what was going on outside,” Vella said.

Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit head Tanya Melillo expressed a similar view of the situation, saying many have still not realised the measures in place are crucial to help stop the spread.

“Now, we’re in the stage where unfortunately people are so tired of hearing of COVID that I doubt it if they even bother to check the numbers every day. But the reality is we are at our worst now,” Melillo said.

The first cases

Health Minister Chris Fearne and Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci had announced the first case early on March 7, 2020.

But while the nation dropped everything to watch the much-dreaded announcement that the virus had reached the island, Melillo was busy elsewhere.

She described how, together with a small team, she was the one tasked with picking up the infected family and taking them to Mater Dei Hospital. At the time this was done as a precaution because the authorities “did not know what to expect”.

... disappointed that some people were still not taking the matter seriously

“I was informed on Friday that the next day I had to pick up the patient, an Italian girl and her family. At the same time, Prof. Gauci and the minister of health gave a press conference.

“I was actually the one who had first contact with this case. We had been working for two months, knowing that sooner or later we would get a case. I wasn’t afraid, I had been prepared for this,” Melillo said.

Promise of hope

Despite the number of patients with the virus reaching record highs, the ongoing rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine seems to be offering a glimmer of hope.

“The studies and the work put in by people who worked on the vaccine are bearing fruit,” Vella said, although he warned people should not stop following measures just yet.

Melillo, meanwhile, said it would be “a pity” if people refused to take the vaccine, especially since its positive impact has already started being felt.

David Fenech, whose father died of COVID-19, said: “Of course, there will always be the sadness and when people die, there is no getting them back.

“But I think that in a way this can make the world a better place once we finally get used to managing it the right way.”