A frontline couple separated by COVID-19 is urging the authorities to allow people in their situation to be reunited if they can prove they are virus-free. 

When the pandemic forced shut airports in March, 34-year-old doctor Aleksandra Rovnaia was visiting family in Russia and found herself stranded there.

Her partner and soon-to-be husband Andrea Damato, a Maltese physiotherapist who was swabbing people for COVID-19, was in Malta and unable to leave.

Prime Minister Robert Abela said in mid-June that flight restrictions to all destinations would be lifted the following month. 

Malta reopened its airport to a restricted group of destinations on July 1, with plans to lift all restrictions by July 15.            

Damato sought to confirm that and was told by Maltese authorities via email that "after July 15, Malta will lift all COVID-19 travel restrictions, and travel will be allowed from all countries."

With that in mind, his partner Rovnaia bought tickets to return to Malta and waited. 

The email which the couple thought meant they would be reunited.

But when the airport reopened in July, it was only for travel from a set of destinations listed as ‘safe countries’.

Russia did not make it on the list, despite having fewer COVID-19 cases per million residents than Belgium, Luxembourg, San Marino, Spain and Iceland – all places that Malta considers ‘safe corridor countries’ - according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides real-time statistics.

Travel to Malta from a country or region that is not on the 'safe corridor' list is not allowed: travellers from any such destination must spend two weeks in a designated 'safe country' before heading here.

While similar measures are in place in several countries across the world, some nations, such as Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands, are making exceptions for couples to reunite.

When Damato, 30, asked the Maltese authorities whether his fiancée could return to Malta if she took a COVID-19 test before and soon after she flew in as a way of proving she is virus-free, he was told that the only way she would be allowed in would be if she spent two weeks in a designated "safe corridor country".

In her case, Turkey is the only connection.

“So Malta prefers to have a person roam around another city for two weeks, enter the country without any test and roam free… instead of taking a test prior to departure and on arrival,” Damato told Times of Malta.

“Anything could happen during these two weeks: there is a possibility that if she stays two weeks in Turkey the situation can change drastically and the country could possibly close its airports, so she would be risking being stuck there.”

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