Serbia among five countries added to Malta’s quarantine-free travel list

Travellers from five additional countries, including Serbia, will be able to visit Malta without quarantining as from Monday under the latest additions to the country's COVID red list for international travel.

According to a legal notice issued on Thursday, five countries have been moved from the dark red list, which requires passengers to quarantine upon arrival, to the red list.

The other four countries are Costa Rica, Saint Lucia, the Dominican Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As from next week, passengers from these countries will be able to present a valid vaccine certificate, or as of Tuesday, a negative COVID PCR test or recovery certificate to avoid quarantining in the country, making leisure travel feasible for people from these countries.

The addition of Serbia to the red list is particularly notable considering concerted campaigning embarked upon by members of the local diaspora to see travel between the countries permitted.

It is also notable due to the significant Serbian community present in Malta, with Serbia reported in 2017 to be second only to Libya in terms of the number of non-EU nationals living on the island.

The country was abruptly removed from the red list in October last year, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Mongolia and Ukraine.

COVID cases in Serbia have plateaued in recent months after reaching a peak in early February. The most recent data from the country, which has a population of nearly seven million, shows that it recorded 1,354 cases in the last 24 hour period.

In Malta, the move is the latest in a continued strategy to relax COVID restrictions, with arrivals set to be permitted to provide negative PCR results or recovery certificates in lieu of a vaccine certificate.

Domestically, another notable change to Malta’s COVID rules is that as of this week, self-testing for the virus will be permitted, in line with the Government’s emphasis of self-regulation and responsibility for the virus.