VALLETTA (Reuters) – Malta will introduce tighter COVID-19 rules on Wednesday, banning British visitors who are not fully vaccinated in an effort to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, the health ministry said.
Unvaccinated children under 12 can enter with an adult, but the move will effectively prevent British families with teenagers from holidaying in one of the few destinations on Britain’s “green list” for quarantine-free travel.
Malta has recorded just one case of the Delta variant, first identified in India, but fears this number will rise after Britain put it on the green list last week.
Britain has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, but has nevertheless faced a surge this month in cases caused by the Delta variant, mainly affecting under-40s who have only recently been eligible for vaccines or have yet to receive a second dose. It has not offered vaccines to those under 18.
Britain is the biggest source market for tourists to Malta, accounting for more than a third of arrivals, and the green list announcement by London was welcomed by Maltese hoteliers.
Tourists from most other countries arriving in Malta will have to produce only a negative test result taken 72 hours before their arrival.
Several would-be British tourists voiced their disappointment on the Malta government’s Department of Information Facebook page.
“Malta will lose the money for accommodation, flights and spending,” Derek Rule wrote, saying that he would have to cancel his family’s holiday because of the new rule, which he called an “apparent arbitrary discrimination against teenagers”.
Malta has fully vaccinated three-quarters of its adults and is about to start vaccinating those aged 12 to 18.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Malta has been in low single figures almost every day since mid-May.
Charmaine Gauci, the superintendent of public health, said last week that more than half of recent new cases were detected among arrivals from abroad who initially tested negative, since the virus has a two-week incubation period.
(Reporting by Chris Scicluna; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Peter Graff)
