Malta reduces quarantine period for vaccinated people who test positive to 10 days

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne on Wednesday announced that the quarantine period for those who receive their booster shot and test positive for COVID-19 is being reduced to 10 days from the current 14-day quarantine policy, so long as they do not display symptoms in the last three days.

The new rule comes into form as of Monday.

The Minister said vaccinated persons who come into contact with positive cases will continue to benefit from the shorter quarantine rules, allowing them to exit isolation on day eight should they produce a negative test result.

In addition, from Monday, vaccinated persons residing with individuals who have come into contact with a positive person will not need to quarantine.

Minister Fearne said that the decision was taken in view of the high booster uptake, with half of all eligible persons receiving the booster jab by tomorrow.

He also announced that from Monday, the number of vaccination centres will increase to 24 across Malta and Gozo.

All those aged over 18 were urged to apply for the booster on vaccin.gov.mt 

As Malta continues to break daily records for daily COVID-19 transmissions, the business community as well as the Opposition have called on Government to review quarantine terms. From an economic perspective, the number of workers in Government-mandated quarantine is causing a heavy strain, while the Opposition expressed concern about a possibly interrupted provision of essential services.

The Malta Chamber on Wednesday proposed the Government should cut quarantine to 10 days, and to seven days for fully vaccinated people who come into contact with a positive case.