An elderly Maltese couple who are aboard a cruise ship will be brought to Malta when the ship stops to refuel offshore on Monday, the government has said.

The couple, who are aboard the cruise ship Colombus, had made a public plea for help on Friday, saying they were vulnerable and would be at greater risk if they were forced to continue to their final destination in the UK.

Prime Minister Robert Abela, Transport Minister Ian Borg and Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci have now jointly agreed to allow the couple to be brought to Malta, the government said in a statement on Saturday. 

The couple will be brought to Malta aboard a boat dispatched by Transport Malta to collect them some 20 miles off the Maltese coast. Workers and sailors involved in the operation will be wearing protective clothing as a precaution, the statement said. 

Upon their arrival the couple, who both suffer from chronic medical conditions and are considered to be vulnerable to COVID-19, will be placed in mandatory quarantine. 

Joseph Merceica and his partner Marthese Bonello made a heartfelt plea on social media on Friday urging authorities to allow them to disembark in Malta. 

The couple boarded the liner on February 25 in Sydney, Australia but on March 14, the trip was abandoned entirely and the ship was ordered to sail non-stop to Tilbury in the UK because of the deepening coronavirus crisis.

"If we have to continue to the port of Tilbury, we would be staying in a hotel for an indefinite period and would have to buy medicine for chronic illness, then travel to Heathrow to return to Malta. This would put us in serious risk of getting infected," Mercieca and Bonello said.