Chris Fearne Refuses To Set End Date For Vaccine Certificate Travel Rules
Health Minister Chris Fearne has refused to provide a date for the relaxation of rules limiting travel to Malta to adequately vaccinated people.
Questioned by Lovin Malta in the wake of pressure from the local travel industry to relax the rules, a spokesperson for Fearne simply said that “Malta has been decreasing measures on travel in a safe way to ensure we continue to protect our country”.
“We have started accepting WHO vaccine certificates and reduced quarantine periods for vaccinated people coming from dark red zones,” they said. “Malta is also participating in discussions on this matter on an EU level.”
As it stands, travellers to Malta from ‘red zones’ can only avoid quarantine if they present a valid vaccine certificate. Maltese vaccine certificates are only valid for primary doses taken within the past three months and booster doses taken within the past nine months.
However, pressure has been growing on the authorities to ease these rules or scrap them altogether, with Air Malta, the Malta International Airport and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association all calling for an end to travel rules.
Hotelier Michael Zammit Tabona has also filed a constitutional case against Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci, warning the rule obliging unboosted Maltese residents to quarantine upon their return to Malta breaches his human rights.
Several European countries have been lifting travel restrictions in recent weeks, with the likes of Hungary, Ireland, the UK, Iceland, Romania, Slovenia and the Netherlands all allowing restriction-free travel.
Besides its impact on tourism, Malta’s travel rules are also causing chaos at the airport, particularly when multiple flights land at the same time, causing an influx of people queuing up at the COVID-19 paper check-in points.
Should Malta lift its travel restrictions?
READ NEXT: Bernard Grech Insisted PN Never Called For A Lockdown. That Is Not True
