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Malta to require vaccination, only under 12 exempt
As I feared, no sooner does our government finally start to take some tiny steps towards allowing travel, than other countries either start banning us or putting Brits into quarantine due to the Delta variant.
Today it has been confirmed that Malta will require Brits to be fully vaccinated to be allowed to enter from 30 June when the country becomes green. But, they will only recognise UK vaccine certificates from 1 July (you couldn’t make this up!). So those arriving on 30 June appear to be in limbo. It is expected that they will accept the NHS app as proof.
The official Visit Malta site says:
As from the 30th June, only fully vaccinated persons can travel to Malta from the United Kingdom. Currently, only the Maltese vaccination certificate is a valid certificate accepted by the Maltese Authorities. As from the 1st July, the UK (2 dose certificate) and the EU digital COVID vaccine certificate will be accepted as well.
Children aged 5-11 can travel if they accompany their vaccinated parents/ legal guardian provided they provide a negative nasopharyngeal PCR test carried out within 72 hours before arrival in Malta. Children under 5 do not need a test, while those aged 12+ can only travel with a full vaccination certificate.
This leaves families with children aged 12 or over unable to travel to Malta unless by some chance the children have been vaccinated.
There are several questions that are not clear from what is written on the official sites.
- What constitutes fully vaccinated? In most cases including the EU it means 14 days since the second jab. However, Malta does not specifically say this.
- Do you still have to test? The current guidance says Passengers arriving from countries classified by Malta as Amber, who have resided in in amber country/ies for a minimum of 14 days are required to present: a negative 72 hour nasopharyngeal RT-PCR test result (age 5 and over) or a valid official Maltese vaccination certificate (age 12 and over). When it says that from 1 July they will recognise UK vaccination certificates, I would assume that this means you no longer have to test.
Israel delays reopening for individual travellers
Israel is probably not at the top of anyone’s holiday list right now given the recent troubles. However, the government of Israel has postponed the reopening of the country to individual tourists anyway by a month until 1 August. Tourist groups will still be allowed under the pilot scheme in the meantime.
Israel has been experiencing a rise in cases due to the Delta variant and had to reintroduce requirements to wear masks indoors only a short time after removing it.
7 comments
What do you think is likelihood of Balearics introducing extra restrictions in the next week? We have flights booked for Sunday 4th of July. My husband is fully vaccinated but I am still waiting for my second dose.
I think it’s more likely they could introduce testing than something similar to Malta as they desperately need the tourism and currently don’t even require a test. Anything’s possible but generally Spain have been more lenient than other countries for tourists.
I am keeping everything crossed. I don’t mind getting tested, just need enough notice to get a walk in appointment booked in Edinburgh as there aren’t many sites we can use. Thanks for writing the article of testing, found it really helpful. Ordered Qured for our return journey.
Hi Michelle, regarding the BA holiday package double tier point offer: do you know whether the bonus tier points should show immediately in “Manage my Booking” or are they added later? I made a booking for next month that I think is eligible (flight+car, 2 people, 8 nights) but only see the standard number of tier points to be awarded and no mention of the double points offer.
No it doesn’t show in MMB. I’m guessing it should show when the TPs actually credit.
Thank you, that is reassuring; and sorry for spelling your name incorrectly!
I hadn’t even noticed!
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