A fully-vaccinated couple is appealing to the authorities for understanding as rigid and expensive quarantine conditions for travel to so-called ‘dark red’ countries has split them from their family in Africa for a long time.

Lara Bezzina, whose husband,  Lassina Ouattara, has been unable to visit his family in Burkina Faso since the pandemic started, said the cost of hotel quarantine was simply “unaffordable”.

It  has been almost four years since the couple had last seen Ouattara’s family in Africa who had not yet met their two-year-old son.

Travel from countries designated ‘dark red’ is only allowed in exceptional circumstances and a 14-day quarantine is mandatory at a designated hotel, irrespective of whether the person is vaccinated.

The total cost of the 14-day hotel stay is €1,400, roughly equivalent to two months’ earnings for someone on minimum wage but, since it only covers bed and breakfast, the costs become even more prohibitive.

“It’s very hard not being able to see your family for such a long time. It’s really affecting my husband’s well-being,” Bezzina explained.

While pointing out her understanding of imposing quarantine conditions in the fight against the virus pandemic, she urged the authorities to look at other alternatives.

The way things are going it might be a while before travel goes back to normal

“We have our own apartment, which we are still paying off. If need be, my family have offered another empty apartment for my husband to stay in.”

Bezzina told Times of Malta that her husband has had to forfeit his air ticket three times since the pandemic started and the uncertainty of when he would be able to see his mother and siblings next was really affecting him badly.

“We don’t know if this is going to end next month or next year. The way things are going it might be a while before travel goes back to normal.”

Bezzina wrote to the Superintendent of Public Health last week, appealing for Ouattara to be able to quarantine in their home but had so far not received a reply.

While, initially, the pregnancy and birth of their son had kept the couple from travelling in 2019, last November Ouattara’s flight ticket was cancelled by the airline and, last March, the whole family contracted COVID-19, grounding them for a third time

The health authorities had designated a list of ‘dark red’ countries subject to a travel ban, according to their COVID-19 case positivity and testing rate and not just the infection total.

A staggering 155 countries and zones still remain in this ‘dark list’. People travelling from these countries to Malta need to seek authorisation and quarantine on arrival for two weeks at a designated hotel irrespective of whether they are vaccinated or have residences in which to self-isolate.

The only exception applies to elite sport involved in international matches, which, according to law, can seek exemption from quarantine.

Malta Football Association general secretary Angelo Chetcuti told Times of Malta that before every international match the association applies to the authorities for an exemption for the squad players not to quarantine on their return.

This is granted according to strict regulations including that the players remain in bubble at all times and there is regular testing, he said.

How does Malta compare to other countries?

A number of countries on the ‘dark red’ list in Malta, such as Burkina Faso and Russia, are on the amber list in the UK, which means vaccinated people travelling from those countries do not need to quarantine.

In France, on the other hand, while people have to seek authorisation to travel from ‘red’ list countries and have to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine irrespective of whether they have been vaccinated or not, they are able to do this at a location of their choosing.

PN calls for sensitivity

In a statement on Monday, the Nationalist Party said that while it acknowledged the need for people to quarantine after they arrived from certain regions, there should be sensitivity in the way the rule is applied. 

It said that some people were being made to unnecessarily quarantine in hotels, at a high personal cost, when they had a suitable alternative residence.  Sensitivity should be shown in such cases, it said.