Malta will recognise UK green passports as of 1 July

Malta will recognise UK Covid vaccine certificates from the 1st of July, a health ministry spokesperson told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

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.

But the good news seemed to be short-lived when the Maltese government announced that anyone coming from the UK would need to present a vaccine certificate that is approved by the Maltese health authorities.

Currently, Malta only recognises vaccine certificates issued by the local health authorities.

This new condition meant that UK arrivals would not even benefit from the fact that the UK is currently on Malta’s amber list, which exempts passengers who arrive with a negative PCR test from mandatory quarantine.

The health authorities said this decision was taken on the basis of epidemiological studies on the situation linked to the Covid-19 variants found in the UK.

This newsroom reported on Friday that discussions were underway between the Maltese and UK governments to decide whether Malta would start recognising vaccination certificates issued by the British National Health Service (NHS).

It seems that an agreement was reached later in the day, with a health ministry spokesperson telling this newsroom that Malta would start accepting UK vaccine certificates on the same day that the EU’s own green certificate system comes into force.

This means that all Member States will now recognise each other’s vaccination certificates while Malta will also be accepting certificates issued by the NHS.

This means that people travelling from the UK to Malta will not need to quarantine as of 1 July if they have either a Maltese vaccine certificate or a UK green passport.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that thousands of Brits have booked holidays in Malta, starting from this weekend.

The UK and Italy are Malta’s two main tourism markets. After the news that Malta was placed on the UK’s green list, the MHRA said it expected a steady recovery for the tourism sector over the summer months.

“People travelling from the UK to Malta will not need to quarantine as of 1 July if they have either a Maltese vaccine certificate or a UK green passport.”