Bernard Grech Endorses Decision To Limit Quarantine Easing To Boosted People As ‘Common Sense’
Opposition leader Bernard Grech has endorsed the government’s decision to only relax quarantine rules for people who have been received a COVID-19 booster, describing it as “common sense”.
“I welcome the news that common sense has reigned and that the authorities will reduce the quarantine period for vaccinated people,” Grech said last night.
“The PN, people in the medical field, employers and the general public requested this move in recent days. We will keep on stressing that a balance must be found between containing the virus and freedom for people’s lives to continue.”
“I urge the public to keep taking the booster so we can return to normal life as quickly as possible while taking care of each other.”
The PN had called for quarantine easing in recent days but had suggested this should follow a negative swab test, with no reference to booster shots.
The new rules, which will come into force on 3rd January, will allow people who test positive for COVID-19 to end their quarantine period after ten days, down from the current 14, so long as they’re asymptomatic and have received a booster shot.
Their “primary contacts” will be able to end their quarantine after seven days, so long as they’re fully vaccinated and test negative for the virus through a rapid test on the seventh day.
Meanwhile, “secondary contacts” (ie. people who live in the same household of people who have come in contact with a positive case) will not need to quarantine at all so long as they’ve been fully vaccinated and boosted.
Malta is grappling with an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 transmission, with a record 1,337 cases registered yesterday. However, hospitalisations have remained relatively low, with only six people with the virus currently in intensive care.
Malta’s new quarantine rules will be stricter than those of most countries which have updated their rules in recent days.
The UK cut quarantine to seven days for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people who test negative on days six and seven, while the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended slashing it from 10 days to five days for asymptomatic people.
South Africa has also dropped quarantine for everyone but symptomatic people and ditched contact tracing for most cases.
Yesterday, Spain announced it will shorten the mandatory isolation period for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people who test positive for the virus from ten to seven days.
Meanwhile, Italy scrapped quarantine for people who come into contact with someone testing positive for COVID-19 so long as they’ve been vaccinated, had a booster shot, or recently recovered from the virus.
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