The newly-updated quarantine rules that allow fully-vaccinated healthcare workers to go into quarantine for five days instead of 14 only applies to those working at Mater Dei, Times of Malta can confirm. 

Health Minister Chris Fearne announced the measure in parliament on Tuesday, saying it will help ease pressure on the healthcare system by freeing up human resources at an earlier stage. 

Fearne said that the revised rules would be the way forward, though he said the new rules would only apply to healthcare workers for now.

But according to a government notice published on Wednesday that brings the fresh rules into force, it is only Mater Dei Hospital workers who will be allowed to go into quarantine for the shorter period.

“An essential worker is any worker whose services are considered by the Medical Director of Mater Dei Hospital to be essential for the running of the hospital,” the notice reads. 

Health sources confirmed the rules will for the time being only apply to those working at Mater Dei Hospital. Those working in other hospitals will still have to quarantine for 14 days if they were in contact with an infected patient. 

It remains unclear when the measure will be extended to also include healthcare workers from other facilities. 

Relatives of the healthcare workers will still have to quarantine for the full 14 days. 

It is the first time since the start of the pandemic that authorities have modified the 14-day quarantine period required for anyone who has been in contact with a positive case. 

How will the new rules work? 

Essential workers at Mater Dei Hospital who have come into contact with a person diagnosed as suffering from COVID-19 infectious disease, but: 

i. have completed a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine, approved by the European Medicines Agency, in accordance with national guidelines; 

ii. fourteen (14) or more days have elapsed since the final dose of the vaccine; 

iii. are asymptomatic; 

iv. reside in a household where all members are asymptomatic; and 

v. are not in domiciliary contact with any other individual known to be either positive for COVID-19 or has had significant exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case, in the previous fourteen (14) days. 

Those who meet these criteria will be allowed out after five days as long as they have tested negative after taking a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the fifth day following exposure to the confirmed COVID-19 case.