Malta removes Covid-related border restrictions
The island nation abolished all remaining pandemic-era rules on 25 July, enabling travellers of all kinds to enter the country without providing test results or vaccine certification
The change was announced on Malta’s official travel website, Visit Malta, earlier this month. The announcement stated that ‘people travelling to Malta without a vaccine certificate, or a recovery certificate do not need to present a negative PCR/Rapid Test before arriving in Malta’.
Malta is now the 26th European Union/Schengen-affiliated country to have dropped all their Covid entry rules. Other countries include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland. The UK has also dropped its own Covid border rules.
The removal of the rules is expected to provide a boost to Malta’s already healthy tourism figures – the country is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels of visitors later this year.
On a less savory note, Malta was recently in the news due to the case of American tourists Andrea Prudente and Jay Weeldreyer, who were forced to seek medical repatriation due to a life-threatening complication during Prudente’s pregnancy. Maltese abortion laws, which are some of the strongest in the world, do not permit the termination of a pregnancy if the mother’s life is threatened. Pregnant travellers to the country should therefore heavily consider the risks involved when travelling to the country.