New measures will come into effect on Saturday.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is deeming Malta as a country with high transmission rates of COVID-19 and has subsequently red-listed our islands. This means that all travellers flying in from Malta must enter a period of quarantine.
According to Corporate Dispatch, the Norwegian government is advising against international travel to this list of countries after a spike in cases. “We’re doing this now so that everyone as soon as possible will be able to live their lives as freely as possible,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a news conference.
Norway is now imposing a 10-day quarantine period that comes into effect from Saturday 15th August on Poland, Malta, Iceland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, the Faroe Islands, as well as some Danish and Swedish regions.
While Norway isn’t a member of the European Union, it belongs to the passport-free Schengen travel zone. The Nordic country had some of the strictest restrictions in Europe at the start of the pandemic, which were then gradually lifted in June.
This week, Belgium also removed Malta from its safe list, recommending quarantine and testing for travellers from Malta. The Dutch government put the Maltese Islands on its orange list that advises against non-essential travel after the surge in cases. Malta was also bumped down to Slovenia’s yellow list from its green list earlier this week, which means a 14-day quarantine period is now in place. Italy also imposed new measures on incoming travellers from Malta, with health minister Roberto Speranza announcing that travellers need to present a negative COVID-19 test needs to be presented or otherwise be subjected to a swab test.