Serbia, Bosnia removed from Dark Red travel list; Ukraine remains on it

Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina are among the countries to have been removed from Malta’s Dark Red Travel List, meaning that people coming into the country from there will no longer have to quarantine.

Travel from the two countries was restricted due to a government legal notice which meant that anyone coming from Dark Red countries to Malta needed special authorisation from health authorities to do so.

They then had to spend 14 days in mandatory quarantine at a quarantine hotel – a period which can be reduced to seven days if they have a vaccine certificate which is valid and recognised by Maltese authorities.

A government legal notice published on Thursday showed that Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Costa Rica, St. Lucia, and the Dominican Republic had been moved from the Dark Red List to the Red List.

This means that people arriving from these countries will now no longer need to quarantine, but still require either a valid vaccination certificate, a negative PCR test from not more than 72 hours prior, a negative rapid antigen test from not more than 24 hours prior, or a Covid recovery certificate valid for not more than 180 days since the last positive test result.

Despite pleas from members of the Ukrainian community in Malta, who had urged authorities to move their country off the Dark Red List so that they can welcome family members who are escaping the war which has broken out there, Ukraine remains on the Dark Red List.

This means that anybody wishing to leave Ukraine for Malta needs to first acquire special authorisation from health authorities, and then spend a period of time in mandatory quarantine.

Ukraine is the only European country to remain on the Dark Red List.

A number of other countries, particularly in Africa, South America, and Central America, are all still on the Dark Red List. The biggest of the countries still on the Dark Red List are Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.

The changes to the travel list will come into force as from Sunday 10 April.