Sicilians will now have to enter a period of quarantine after holidaying in Malta.
Italy is reportedly imposing COVID-19 testing on travellers coming from the Maltese Islands, as well as Croatia, Greece, and Spain. This comes as there is an increasing concern in the number of new infections in these countries.
Late yesterday evening, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said that an order was signed that requires travellers from the above four countries to have an antibody or swab test done once they enter Italy, and subsequently be isolated until results come out. Travellers will be exempt from this if a negative COVID-19 test (that was carried out 72 hours prior) is presented upon arrival.
Earlier, Sicily also imposed restrictions on arrivals from Malta. Sicilians must register on the siciliacoronavirus.it website and remain in quarantine for two weeks before getting tested.
Non-residents on the other hand need to register with the health authorities on siciliasicura.com and use the connected WebApp. The legal notice doesn’t specify whether they need to enter a period of quarantine.
Yesterday, Puglia’s regional president Michele Emiliano announced that travellers from Malta are required to quarantine after more people tested positive after holidaying here. The same happened in other Sicily regions where a cluster of teens tested positive after a trip to Malta. “Seeing the images on social media I don’t think that there are many checks in Malta,” Canicattini Bagni Mayor told La Repubblica a few days ago, commenting on the situation.
As it stands, Malta has 486 active cases. 49 new cases were recorded yesterday after a record 2,200 swabs were done in the past 24 hours. Since the outbreak, Malta has detected 1,190 cases, 695 of which have since recovered.