Malta abandons plan to bar unvaccinated travellers from entry

Malta has abandoned its plan to close its borders on Wednesday to travellers that have not received the Covid-19 vaccine, Euronews reports.

On Friday the government announced that from July 14, travellers would have to prove they had been vaccinated, which led to criticism from the European Commission.

The government announced on Tuesday that instead, arrivals would face an undisclosed period of quarantine. The compulsory self-isolation period for those arriving from countries certified as "red" is already 14 days.

The EC had criticised the ban, pointing out that the health pass system adopted by the EU - under which arrivals had to prove they were vaccinated, cured of the coronavirus, or recently tested negative - was binding on member states.