Malta will remove “practically all” remaining COVID-19 restrictions by the beginning of May, Health Minister Chris Fearne has confirmed.

Responding to listeners’ queries on ONE Radio’s Sibt il-Punt this morning, Fearne gave an update on the government’s pandemic exit roadmap.

He said the plan is for standing events to return between April and May, coinciding with the return of village feasts, and that an exact date will be announced between March and April. 

Standing events have been completely banned since December 2021 and a 1am curfew has been imposed on establishments, a situation that has seriously frustrated people who work in the night economy. 

Fearne didn’t clarify whether or not the plans include limiting access to standing events to adequately vaccinated people and whether the curfew will be lifted.

The next stage of Malta’s exit strategy will kick in on Monday, when quarantine for vaccinated primary contacts of positive cases will go down to five days for people who don’t live in the same household and seven days for people who do. 

Quarantine for vaccinated primary contacts is set to be completely eliminated on 7th March, while positive cases will be able to exit quarantine after a week provided they test negative and don’t display symptoms in the three days prior to their discharge. 

On 14th March, mask-wearing rules will be completely scrapped for public open spaces but there has been no word on whether they will also be removed for indoor areas.