An investigation has been launched into an outbreak of COVID-19 in two homes for the elderly that led to the deaths of 13 residents. 

The Social Care Standards Authority is investigating Residenza San Ġużepp, in Fgura, which has had nine COVID-19 deaths, and a second home, Casa Antonia in Balzan, where there were four COVID-19 victims.

Matthew Vella, CEO of the Authority, said the investigation would “determine how the outbreak happened and to identify any shortcomings”. He said they had already made a number of recommendations, including to move non-COVID residents from one of the homes.

The investigation will also look into whether the homes conformed to recommendations to protect their residents, which are among the most vulnerable to the virus.

Almost half of the residents of San Ġużepp, contracted COVID-19 last month. There are currently 30 active cases there, after 86 recoveries and nine deaths. Four of the victims died in the home, while the others were in hospital.

There are three active cases in Casa Antonia, after 28 recoveries and four deaths, including two who died at the home.

Why are they investigating?

The SCSA, a regulatory body to improve standards in social welfare services, was contacted by Mario Mifsud, a distraught and vocal relative who has three family members in the Fgura home. He also filed a police report for negligence at the home.

Another relative, Godwin Schembri, who lost his mother, Connie, to COVID-19 and whose father lives in the same home, also recently expressed his frustration, fears and feelings of helplessness.

Popular seamstress Connie Schembri was one of the nine COVID-19 victims at San Guzepp home. Photo: Family handout

He said he was contacted by the authority, which licenses social welfare providers, establishes regulation standards in the social welfare sector, inspects services and takes action to protect users.

In a widely shared Facebook post last week, Schembri also expressed his worry about the mental health of his father and other patients confined to their room  for quarantine purposes, without even the possibility to walk into the corridor.

He has asked for the names and competencies of those carrying out the inquiry and when its results would be made public and actioned.

The home’s management has argued it has “implemented all possible measures to control the spread of the virus to safeguard the residents’ well-being and to keep their relatives informed”.

It has refrained from listing the number of deaths in the home, while Malta registers the second-highest rate of elderly coronavirus patients for every 100,000 people in Europe, and also had the highest mortality rate over the span of two weeks. 

In view of this, last week, Bernard Grech, the newly-elected Nationalist Party leader, calling on the parliamentary secretary for the elderly, Silvio Parnis, to resign his position, insisting the government had lost all direction on the problem of elderly deaths.