There seemed to be no hint of humour whatsoever when the prime minister intoned last Friday that “the situation is under control” regarding COVID-19.

Yet, that statement would be laughable were it not so tragically off the mark in the light of the mounting cases and deaths that Malta is seeing.

The following day, the daily tally of new cases doubled to over 200. Contact tracers are not keeping up with demand and the government is setting up a third ITU to cope with the anticipated rise in seriously ill patients.

Robert Abela’s misguided remark was a product of the same general attitude of scepticism, and even outright denial, that has long characterised his approach to the virus and contributed to people generally lowering their guard.

There was his premature declaration of victory, obvious even at the time; his dismissal of the possibility of a second wave with his notorious reference to the sea; his statements undermining enforcement; his tendency to scoot off on boating weekends when cases were on the rise; his bad example on mask wearing. His attack yesterday on any criticism of his handling of the pandemic as ‘politicisation’ is disingenuous and overly defensive.

In short, the government has not succeeded in balancing health and economic needs – health seems to have taken second place. This is short-sighted. The nation’s health is a vital ingredient of economic well-being.

The government’s financial initiatives have kept many businesses afloat and hundreds if not thousands of employees in a job. Its massive injection of cash into the economy, as the tourism and retail industries floundered, was needed and timely. Its commitment to sustaining that support is reassuring, although it also needs to turn its attention to longer-term economic sustainability.

COVID fatigue is a reality and it is right to view lockdown as a very last resort, both for economic and health – including mental health – reasons.

However, the government’s tackling of the coronavirus has been consistently handicapped, since the summer resurgence, by a failure to take firmer and earlier action, both in terms of measures and enforcement.

Abela finally admitted it himself last week when he said more enforcement was needed. The science on masks has been clear for a long time. The need to enforce the rules on an undisciplined population has been evident since the start of summer. With COVID-19, control is about prevention not reaction.

The new measures are welcome. Medical professionals had long been warning of the need for a tougher approach. Doubts have consistently been expressed on whether the government is following closely enough the recommendations of its public health experts.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci is not the reassuring figure she once was and Health Minister Chris Fearne is not as visible as he should be in these circumstances.

It is legitimate to ask if they are being deliberately hamstrung.

Abela’s mediocre trust ratings reflect this situation. The people know it is he who calls the shots on COVID-19. They note that his public display of sensitivity towards families who have lost loved ones has not been backed up by timely and concrete action on the ground.

Contrast his standing in the local polls to the prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who on Saturday won a resounding victory at the election on her handling of the coronavirus.

For most people, it is their health that comes first. “Without health, we have nothing,” as the Maltese are wont to say. The government’s decisions in the recent past have not put health first.

In these circumstances, honesty and humility – rather than defensiveness and declarations of success – would go a long way towards regaining the people’s trust.

So would evidence that enforcement of the measures is working.

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