Malta bans all visitors who are not fully vaccinated against COVID Coronavirus pandemic News

The Health Minister has said that only those with a British or European vaccination certificate will be accepted from 14 July.

Malta has become the first European country to close its borders to anyone who has not been fully vaccinated against coronavirus as a result of the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Only those with a British or European vaccination certificate will be accepted from July 14, Health Minister Chris Fearne said on Friday, suggesting that tourists from the US and other places be banned.

“We will be the first EU country to do that, but we need to protect our society,” Fearne said at a news conference.

Malta is said to be the success story of the European vaccination campaign, as 79 per cent of the adult population is now fully vaccinated.

But with no new cases reported and only 28 active cases on June 27, the Mediterranean island nation reported 96 new virus infections on Friday, bringing the number of active cases to 252.

“From Wednesday, July 14, anyone coming to Malta must have a recognized vaccine certificate: a Maltese certificate, a British certificate or a European Union certificate,” Fearne told reporters.

The only exception will be children aged 5-12 who have not been vaccinated, as they will be allowed to enter Malta if they take a negative test and are accompanied by fully vaccinated parents.

They previously allowed visitors from the rest of the EU, the US and several other countries if they showed a negative PCR coronavirus test or were fully embedded.

Fearne said about 90 per cent of the cases found in Malta are among people who are not vaccinated, and many are in English schools.

So far the cases have been confirmed in nine schools and as a result all English schools will have to close their doors from 14 July.

Unlike in other parts of Europe, there has been no increase in cases of coronavirus in Malta Delta variant, is thought to be more contagious.

Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said Friday that only seven of the country’s 252 active cases were identified with the Delta variant.

Malta has been emerging from the months of coronary heart disease restrictions in recent weeks.

“We are not changing other sections of our plan for now, but we will do so if science suggests,” the health minister said.

Malta has had 30,851 cases of the virus so far, and has recorded 420 deaths.

People walk outside a vaccination center at the University of Malta [File: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters]