The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has backtracked on its decision to waive quarantine hotel fees for Ukrainians.

A spokesperson for the authority first told Times of Malta that Ukrainians fleeing from war in their country would not be required to pay the fee of €100 per night for their stay in a quarantine hotel.

However, a few hours later, the spokesperson wrote back retracting the reply, pointing out that “there will be no waiving of expenses”.

Times of Malta was contacted by Ukrainians who arrived in Malta on Tuesday. They said they were all required to pay the €100 fee

The government was also asked whether it was considering removing Ukraine from the dark red list so that people living here who want to bring their relatives over to avoid the war could do so.

A health ministry spokesperson replied the protocol had not changed since the situation in eastern Europe escalated.

“Requests for travel to Malta of persons from Ukraine for residency, those with an employment permit, including employment permit in principle, and persons of the immediate family of residents, as well as any bona fide asylum seekers are accepted subject they quarantine on arrival as per protocol,” she said.

Ukrainians living in Malta are calling on the authorities to remove their country from the coronavirus dark red list as this is causing a lot of unnecessary hardship for those wanting to flee their war-torn country to join relatives in Malta.