The federation of English language schools has hit out at what it described as “unsubstantiated” and harmful claims that unvaccinated foreign students were responsible for spreading the Delta variant in Malta. 

FELTOM referred to an interview published recently in Times of Malta in which the head of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit, Tanya Mellilo, said “unvaccinated foreign students brought the Delta variant with them to our shores”.

The federation said: “FELTOM categorically objects to such a statement and would like to highlight the fact that similar discrediting blanket statements have led to discriminatory damaging actions against the industry and those whose livelihood depends on it.

“Since the country had experienced a spike in cases following July 9, 2021, there was no way it could be determined who was responsible for spreading the Delta variant,” the federation added.

It noted that the inclusion of Malta on the UK’s Green List on June 24 meant that the country had opened its doors to British tourists at a time when the UK had a great number of positive cases caused by the Delta variant. 

“The virus does not discriminate between nationalities, and one must bear in mind that both locals and foreigners travelled during this same period, and anyone may have been a virus carrier,” the statement read. 

FELTOM called for ‘the scapegoating’ of the English language teaching industry in the country to stop, pointing out that the schools had already been the target of discriminatory measures when in mid-July, they were unexpectedly ordered to close their doors for a third time without any prior consultation from the health authorities.