The COVID-19 situation has deteriorated significantly leading to sudden and sharp increase in numbers with the tally of new cases expected to reach a new record on Wednesday, doctors said.

In a statement, the Medical Association of Malta said its council had decided to extend its directives and keep them in force until Friday.

MAM had issued a raft of directives to doctors last week that included not attending outpatient appointments at Mater Dei Hospital and not handle elective surgeries. The directives came into force on Thursday morning. 

On Friday, MAM said the decision to carry out elective surgery followed discussions with Health Minister Chris Fearne, as a gesture of goodwill. 

MAM said on Wednesday it will suspend its directives for a week from August 15 to 23.

But unless further measures were taken by cabinet by that date to effectively bring the epidemic under control, it would put them back in force, including the suspension of all elective surgery, as from August 24.

The doctors’ union said its directives have been followed by over 95% of members making the strike an organisational success.

It noted that one health centre doctor had reported positive and another was in quarantine waiting for the result of testing.

A total of 29 new cases were reported on Tuesday, bringing the number of active cases in Malta up to 440. In spite of the numbers, Prime Minister Robert Abela said there was no need to panic as most cases were mild.

MAM said that, on Tuesday, four patients were admitted to Mater Dei with serious COVID-19 symptoms, bringing the tally to seven.

It noted that, so far, the government had reversed its decision on mass events of over 300 people, but continued to permit events with numbers of up to 300 with minimal and ineffective enforcement, creating the ideal conditions for the spread of the virus.

The government, MAM said, also appeared to be in a state of denial basing itself on the false premise that hospitalisations were low, when science showed that a death for every 75 cases was to be expected within three to six weeks.

The doctors also noted that three Baltic states and Ireland, Slovenia, Greece and the Emilia Romagna and Puglia regions in Italy have put restrictions on travel to Malta, after the US Centres for Disease Control declared Malta a high-risk area for COVID-19.

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