Another country has removed our islands from its safe green list, this time being Slovenia. This comes as Malta is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Reportedly, in recent days, Malta has been bumped down to Slovenia’s yellow list from its green list, meaning that for now, our islands are epidemiologically safe. This is a middle ground before we are put on the country’s red list after being declared as unstable.

This means that a 14-day quarantine period is now in place applicable to anyone who is not a Slovenian citizen or a foreign national who can prove residence in Slovenia. Along with the Maltese Islands, Czech Republic, three Spanish administrative units and Switzerland were also removed from Slovenia’s green list.

Similar changes to other countries’ green lists have been made, such as Ireland also requiring quarantine for anyone travelling from Malta. Meanwhile, Greece has also made it mandatory for travellers from Malta to present a negative COVID-19 test taken up to 72 hours before their scheduled flight.

As of yesterday, Malta’s number of active cases reached 415 as 23 new cases and 9 recoveries were recorded. Since the outbreak, Malta has recorded 1,112 cases.