Doctors warn against placing economic interests before health

The doctors’ union has expressed its deep concern about the “high-risk decision” taken by Prime Minister Robert Abela to start re-open businesses after the COVID-19 measures, saying he was putting economic interests before health.  On Sunday, Abela announced that restaurants and hairdressers would be allowed to reopen by the end of the week, albeit with strict measures.   In a strong statement on Monday morning reacting to the decision, the Medical Association of Malta said the high number of cases last week for four consecutive days occurred exactly two weeks after the first easing measures by the government.  Unfortunately, it said, people were given the impression that wearing a surgical mask protects them from COVID-19 so many people were failing to comply with social distancing rules, and many vulnerable groups such as the elderly could be seen outside shops. As a result of the latest figures, Malta moved up to the top twenty nations in the global world meter scale for COVID-19 cases, having twice the number of daily cases per population when compared to Italy, Spain and Germany.  “The country may have lost eight weeks because we now have the numbers we had two months ago.