A mere 1,253 people of the thousands in mandatory quarantine were subject to inspections by the health authorities in the first week of January, Times of Malta is informed.

This was at a time when the country had over 14,000 active cases, meaning tens of thousands of people were in mandatory quarantine. The number of active cases on Friday was down to nearly half that figure.

Two of the people inspected that week were caught in breach of the rules and handed a fine.

It is not known which agency enforced the regulations in those cases.

The health authorities recently updated quarantine rules to reduce the period of isolation as the number of infected people reached into the thousands.

Quarantine is still causing staffing issues in certain sectors, with the catering industry saying it has been struggling to operate with so many people stuck in isolation.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recommends that contacts of positive cases can quarantine for a period of between two to four days if in possession of a negative test.