Watch: Overwhelming queues for MaltaPost office in St Paul's Bay

Updated 5pm with MaltaPost response

Long queues crowded pavements along the main thoroughfare in St Paul's Bay on Saturday morning, as people breached social distancing guidelines in an attempt to be served at their local post office.  

[attach id=907707 type="video"]The queue foe the post office in St Paul's Bay at 8am this morning[/attach]

Times of Malta readers sent in pictures of footage of long lines starting as early as 7.30am at the MaltaPost outlet on Triq San Pawl in St Paul's Bay, with the queue snaking down the road and winding around corners all the way down to the coast. 

Many of those waiting appeared to be closer together than the two-metre distance recommended as safe by public health officials, although others kept a good distance apart.

[attach id=907701 size="large" align="left" type="image"][/attach]

A St Paul's Bay resident who spoke to Times of Malta said that long queues for the post office had become a common occurrence in the locality. The situation was exacerbated by similar queues regularly forming outside a bank outlet right across the road. 

"I would say there was a line of around 200 feet (60 metres), with people queuing in the hot sun and making it...