Malta’s Quarantine Leave Scheme Ends Monday After €11 Million Spent Across Pandemic
Malta will stop compensating employers whose staff are in quarantine as of Monday 2nd May, Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia announced today.
Introduced shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out in 2020, the quarantine leave scheme saw Malta Enterprise financially compensate employers whose staff were ordered to quarantine by the health authorities.
Employers were granted €350 for every employee who was forced to quarantine for two weeks, and eventually €250 for every employee who had to quarantine for ten days and €175 for every employee who had to quarantine for a week.
This was a way of compensating businesses whose workers had become non-productive for a period of time over and above their vacation leave or sick leave.
In total, €11 million was spent on the quarantine scheme.
Meanwhile, Malta Enterprise will extend the COVID-19 wage supplement for at least another month, until the end of May, bringing the total expenditure on this scheme up to €720 million.
The end of the quarantine leave is being timed to coincide with the end of mandatory quarantine for all contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19.
Positive cases will still need to quarantine, for seven days if a test on day even results negative, but will be eligible for sick leave.
Do you agree with the end of quarantine for contacts?
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