After Prime Minister Robert Abela on Sunday revealed that the Malta International Airport (MIA) will reopen on July 1, it was reported that Malta is likely to open its airport for flights to 16 countries.

MIA has been shut since March 21 in order to safeguard public health and reduce the spread of the Coronavirus as much as possible.

PM Abela is expected to give more details on this matter in a news conference today.

The Times of Malta revealed an unconfirmed list of the 16 countries, which are Iceland, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Estonia, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Finland and Ireland.

This list has not yet officially been confirmed and does not include countries such as the UK and mainland Italy. However, Sardinia and Sicily are being taken into consideration and countries such as Portugal and Poland are being assessed by the authorities in order to open flights at a later stage, the report read.

A number of precautions are expected to be taken to safeguard public health when travelling, including wearing a mask when flying on Air Malta aircraft, better hygiene, social distancing measures, and better checks of temperature once the airport reopens.