The curtain has come down on COVID-19 briefings that made Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci a household name.  

“The situation is now stable, and so we agreed that the weekly bulletin that I have been giving every Friday is not needed for now,” she said during a press conference on Friday.  

Every week thousands would tune in to watch the public health chief give a round-up of events, quickly becoming the public face of the frontliners' fight against the virus.   

On Friday, Gauci said she and her team would remain available to the public through the public health helpline 111.  

Gauci’s announcement comes as the authorities are gradually easing restrictive measures put in place to contain the spread of the virus.  

Gauci started holding the briefings even before Malta had registered its first COVID-19 case, back in March 2020. 

As soon as the pandemic hit the island, Gauci started providing daily updates from her office, with journalists allowed to be present during the first few weeks. 

Once more cases started being registered and people were encouraged to stay home, the press conference started being held remotely, with journalists asking questions via video conferencing platforms.

Gauci had already halted her briefings once last summer, only to reintroduce them as cases started to rise once again.