Five people have each been fined €3,000 for breaching the recently-published restrictions on mass events, the Superintendent for Public Health, Charmaine Gauci, said on Monday. 

Gauci told TVM said that in 200 inspections, five venues were found in breach of the rules introduced to limit the spread of COVID-19 and those responsible were fined. 

The new rules that came into force last week, limit the number of patrons in a venue according to its size, with not more than one person for every four square metres, capped at not more than 100 people indoors and 300 outside.

Patrons may stay in groups of not more than 10 and a distance of two metres must be kept between groups. 

Gauci said 250 inspections had also been carried out in retail outlets across the country, and 34 people were fined for not wearing a face mask. The fine is €50 as long as it is not contested.  

During the interview, Gauci avoided calling the recent spike in cases a second wave. 

She said that a 'peak' in cases was being observed and measures were being rolled out to control the situation. 

"We will observe the results of the current measures in around two weeks' time, as the cases that are currently being reported would have been infected earlier," Gauci said. 

"If following that we don't see an improvement then the measures will be evaluated." 

The Superintendent said that while no new cases had emerged from Gozo or among Gozitan people, this did not mean that the virus was not present in Gozo and regulations had to be observed.