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. 2021 Jun;46(3):618-625.
doi: 10.1007/s10900-020-00925-6. Epub 2020 Sep 16.

Mass Events Trigger Malta's Second Peak After Initial Successful Pandemic Suppression

Sarah Cuschieri  1 , Martin Balzan  2 , Charmaine Gauci  3 , Steve Aguis  4 , Victor Grech  5
Affiliations

Mass Events Trigger Malta's Second Peak After Initial Successful Pandemic Suppression

Sarah Cuschieri et al. J Community Health. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

The second COVID-19 wave is sweeping the globe as restrictions are lifted. Malta, the 'poster child of Europe's COVID-19 first wave success' also fell victim shortly after it welcomed the first tourists on 1st of July 2020. Only four positive cases were reported over the successive 15 days. Stability was disrupted when two major mass events were organized despite various health professional warnings. In a matter of few just days, daily cases rose to two-digit figures, with high community transmission, a drastic rise in active cases, and a rate per hundred thousand in Europe second only to Spain. Frontliners were swamped with swabbing requests while trying to sustain robust case management, contact tracing and follow-up. Indeed, the number of hospitalizations and the need for intensive ventilation increased. Despite the initial cases were among young adults, within weeks a small spill off on the more elderly population was observed. Restrictions were re-introduced including mandatory mask wearing in specific locations and capping of the total number of people in a single gathering. Malta is an island and the potential for containment would have been relatively simple and effective and permitting mass gatherings was unwise. Protecting the health of the population should take centre stage while carrying out extensive testing, contact tracing and surveillance. Containment and mitigation along with public cooperation is the key to curbing resurgences especially with the influenza season around the corner.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Economy; Malta; Pandemics; Population health; Population surveillance; Prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors declare no conflict of interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of the 7-day average moving timeline of the positive cases since March 2020
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of the daily and total active COVID-19 cases in Malta as of 1st July 2020 [35]. *As reported by the official COVID-19 figures by Ministry of Health. The reminder clusters are as reported during the weekly COVID-19 Media Briefing
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Second wave COVID-19 cluster distribution [35, 41]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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