Malta’s rules for travelling with children are among the strictest in the European Union, a review by Times of Malta has found.

Children aged five and over need to show proof of a negative nasopharyngeal RT-PCR test (commonly referred to as a nasal swab test) taken at least 72 hours before arrival into the country.

While anyone with a Maltese vaccine certificate does not have to be tested, immunisation will only be fully rolled out to children aged 12 to 15 from next month. 

According to publicly available data, only three other EU member states have stricter rules than ours. In Italy and Portugal, children aged two or over must present a test while in Romania, the age is slightly higher, at four.

Like Malta, the Czech Republic demands children over five are tested prior to arrival while Greece, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg request tests from those aged over six.

One of just eight countries in EU where a face mask is mandatory in all public places

However, in most EU countries, tests are only required for children aged over 12, with Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden going as far as not requesting tests for travelling minors.

It remains unclear why Malta has opted to set the testing age at five. Times of Malta has contacted the health authorities for an explanation.

In travel proposals ahead of summer, the European Commission recommended that children aged under six should be exempted from travel-related testing while, in a report published on Thursday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) together with European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that "for children below the age of 12 such COVID-19 testing
is not required.

Malta’s health authorities have been unapologetic about having strict rules on COVID-19, even as the island’s cases plummet to 45 active cases and more than 60 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated.

Last month, reports said that the country is one of just eight within the European Union where wearing a face mask or covering is mandatory in all public places, with the majority of member states only recommending the face coverings when indoors.

Since then, one of those countries – France – has ditched mandatory mask-wearing outdoors.

From July 1, Malta’s mask-wearing measures will be slightly relaxed.

Fully vaccinated persons will be able to remove face coverings while outdoors, so long as they are with only one other vaccinated individual. The face covering must be put on again if there are more people in the gathering.

Health Minister Chris Fearne told parliament earlier this week that Malta’s success in the vaccine roll-out means it cannot follow other countries’ examples in lifting virus restrictions and must be careful not to commit mistakes.

Details for every EU country’s rules can be found here: https://reopen.europa.eu/en.

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