The Malta Medical Association has warned that the current practice of “free for all boarding on commercial flights, with random swabbing on arrival is clearly insufficient and presents significant risks as positive individuals not only can board the aircraft without a test, but may spread the virus to other passengers at airports and especially on board the aircraft.”
In a statement on Tuesday morning the MAM said that, the current practice of “board now – check later” presents “very significant risk to public health and tourism alike once the number of flights increases.”
It stressed that prior swab tests or authenticatable vaccine certificates should be introduced before boarding onto an aircraft, so as to guard against new variants of concern.
Unfortunately, should a new variant be imported because of inadequate preventative measures the whole vaccination process may have to restart from scratch, the MAM said. This would have major implications for the economy as well.
The MAM went on to say that “any re-opening of economic activity should be very gradual and accompanied with close monitoring and adjusted as necessary, based on sound scientific evidence.”
It added that such a gradual process would allow remedial action to be taken promptly and effectively should numbers rise again.
MAM also cautioned against any easing of restrictions at events where social distancing is difficult or unrealistic before Malta reaches herd immunity. This is likely to be achieved not before 70% of the population is fully vaccinated.
MAM went on to say that “unfortunately the Malta tourist authority once again seems to be planning large commercial parties. These events should be the very last to open and as much as possible after the protective effects of vaccines on such events has been scientifically demonstrated.”
It warned that “as the British variant is much more contagious than the previous virus, just one event could lead to hundreds of new cases in a few days. This is to be avoided at all costs.