Malta on UK green list, but visiting Brits still need to quarantine for now
Malta may have been placed on the UK’s green list on Thursday, but British people visiting Malta still have to quarantine, at least for the time being.
This is because Malta currently only recognises vaccination certificates issued by the Maltese health authorities, and anyone visiting from the UK must present one on arrival.
The Malta Independent is informed that discussions are underway between the Maltese and UK governments on whether the certificates issued by the UK National Health Service (NHS) should be recognised by Malta.
The UK government announced on Thursday that British citizens returning from Malta, and people visiting the UK from Malta, do not need to quarantine upon arrival in Britain. The news was welcomed by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, which has been lobbying the Maltese government to open up tourism from the UK – one of the country’s main tourism markets.
The UK is currently on Malta’s amber list, which means that people coming from that country do not need to quarantine if they present a negative PCR test or if they hold a Maltese-issued vaccination certificate.
But the government announced on Thursday evening that anyone coming from the UK needs to present a vaccination certificate that is recognised by the Superintendence for Public Health. Currently, Malta only recognises Maltese certificates.
This effectively means that anyone coming from the UK needs to quarantine.
The ministry said this decision was taken on the basis of epidemiological studies on the situation linked to the Covid-19 variants found in the UK.
Sources said that discussions are underway between Malta and the UK but, ultimately, a decision on whether Malta will recognise UK-issued vaccination certificates rests with Public Health chief Charmaine Gauci.
Malta was the only European country to be added to the UK green list, with the Balearic Islands and Madeira being the only other European territories added.
The new list comes into force on Wednesday 30 June at 4am (GMT).
Northern Ireland was the first to announce Malta’s addition to the green list, with Scotland and England following suit within an hour.
Malta’s inclusion comes at the third review of the travel list, after the country was excluded from the first two lists in the past months – with some pointing at the notion that it was a politically-motivated decision rather than a scientific one.
The decision comes amidst concern on an increase in Covid-19 cases in the UK, most of which are of the far more transmissible Indian Delta variant – the circulation of which has thus far been largely curbed in Malta.
Maltese health authorities are acting to try and mitigate the spread of the variant: on Thursday The Malta Independent reported that some 7,000 people had had their AstraZeneca appointment for the second dose moved forward by at least two weeks, with the intention here being that full protection of the vaccine is given as soon as possible.