Malta has given up plans to ban all unvaccinated visitors from the islands. The change of mind comes less than a week after health minister Chris Fearne announced that only those who’ve been double-jabbed would be granted entry from yesterday, 14 July.
The European Commission criticised the initial decision to limit entry to the vaccinated, saying it violated the spirit of the new EU Digital Covid Certificate, which grants entry to those who’ve been vaccinated, in possession of a negative Covid test or have recovered from the virus in the last six months.
Local businesses weren’t impressed either – the Times of Malta described the tightening of the restrictions as “the nightmare scenario thousands of businesses and travellers were dreading.”
Instead, the government now says that unvaccinated arrivals would have to quarantine, but didn’t specify how long the period would be.
Around 79 per cent of Maltese adults have been vaccinated – the highest rate in the EU – which led the government to claim that it had reached ‘herd immunity.’
