Eleven post-secondary students, who tested positive for COVID-19, have been hospitalised as a precaution after one was found to have the Brazil variant of the virus.
Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci said authorities took the step of treating them in hospital not because of symptoms but to isolate them completely .
Gauci said the cases were found in a university complex but did not say whether it was the University of Malta or the AUM. These were foreign students, who live in a cluster, Gauci explained. The cluster is a University complex. This is how we handle containment, especially with such clusters, she said.
Student councils call for reopening of post-secondary institutions
The joint statement was penned by student councils from St Aloysius College, De La Salle College, and St Martin s College
30 April 2021, 5:14pm
by Nicole Meilak
The student council of De La Salle College, together with those of St Aloysius and St Martin s College, are calling for post-secondary schools to reopen
Student councils are calling upon the Education Ministry to reopen post-secondary schools, arguing that students should not be the primary victims of COVID-19 restrictions.
The statement, sent on behalf of St Aloysius College, De La Salle College, and St Martin s College, argues that students at post-secondary level should have a right to learn in a school environment, given that the COVID-19 situation has died down.
Post-secondary students are appealing to the authorities to allow them to return to physical schooling and not remain “victims of restrictions” as other non-essential industries are allowed to re-open.
A letter signed by the student councils of three post-secondary schools, St Aloysius, De La Salle and St Martin sixth forms, was sent to Prime Minister Robert Abela, Health Minister Chris Fearne, Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci and Education Minister Justyne Caruana, is asking for sixth form students to be allowed to return to lessons on school campus now that the COVID-19 situation has calmed down and things are returning to a semblance of normality.
Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci insisted on Wednesday that COVID-19 restrictions need to be lifted gradually on the basis of case numbers, the situation at hospital and experience learned abroad.
Questioned on Times of Malta’s Ask Charmaine programme, particularly on the continued use of face masks, Gauci said the authorities are taking a
paced approach and will continue to lift measures as the case numbers stay down.
It was good news, she said, that some agencies abroad were saying that masks did not need to be worn between fully vaccinated persons, but in Malta, herd immunity had not been achieved yet. A large section of the population has still not been vaccinated.
The health authorities are looking into whether a thrombosis case in Malta is linked in any way to COVID vaccination.
In a statement late on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said it has been informed of a 58-year-old person who suffered thrombosis two weeks after receiving the first dose.
The ministry did not specify the brand of the administered vaccine.
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The person is in a stable condition, it reassured, adding that the Malta Medicines Authority is looking into the matter.
Earlier this month the European Medicines Authority said blood clots were a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca jab and the benefits outweighed the risks.