Doctors are legally obliged to report coronavirus cases. But how do they do so?

Doctors in contact with coronavirus patients who used self-testing kits must report the cases to the public health authorities, but an effective system is still not in place for this to be done.

The virus is one of 72 notifiable infectious diseases and, by law, any healthcare professional who comes across a notifiable infectious disease is duty-bound to report it to public health.

This effectively means that while patients who test positive for the virus using the newly-legalised self-testing kits are not required to inform the public health authorities, medical professionals are.

And according to the guidelines issued on Monday alongside the legal notice outlining the rules for self-testing kits, anyone who gets a positive test is to “contact a GP for further clinical assistance and guidance”.

It is not yet clear if the authorities will be keeping tabs on those who test positive using self-test kits and how this will work, especially since the law is aimed at regulating professionals and not individuals.

Questions sent to the health authorities on the matter have remained unanswered.

Doctors who spoke to Times of Malta said they have not yet been provided with guidelines on how...