Malta is no longer on the EU's green travel list after the number of new COVID-19 cases increased in recent weeks, as they have done across the continent. 

Up until last week, Malta was the only country on the green list as the majority of European countries had already started dealing with an increase in infections. 

Malta is now on the orange list after its 14-day notification rate increased to 113.5 in the latest weekly update issued by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

A country is placed on the orange list when the 14-day notification rate is between 75 and 200 and the test positivity rate is less than four per cent. Malta's positivity rate for the week under review stood at 1.9 per cent. 

The ECDC issues a weekly map classifying each country based on the number of cases and positivity rate detected in the previous week. It is part of the European Council’s recommendation on a coordinated approach to travel measures in the EU. 

While a country's classification does not have any automatic consequence, the ECDC classifications are used to provide travellers with information about their destination's risk level as well as to inform EU member states' travel restrictions. 

The European Commission has previously advised member states to discourage travel to and from 'red' countries. 

Malta had been on the green list since the end of September when the infection rate started to dwindle. 

Before that, the island had been classified as orange. Countries with the best infection and positivity rates are classified as green, followed by those in orange, then red. Those countries that are worst hit are listed in the dark red category.