Malta has been added to Lithuania’s travel black-list after the ongoing spike in Covid-19 cases.

Lithuania's Health Ministry updated its list of countries that are deemed affected by the pandemic on Monday morning, with travel restrictions applying to travellers from 13 countries within the European Economic Area.

As of Monday, Maltese citizens and legal residents are not allowed to go to Lithuania due to the rise of Covid-19 infections in the country. Lithuanian citizens returning to the country from Malta must self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival.

The no-travel rules also apply to Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Bulgaria, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Croatia. In these countries, and in Malta, the Covid-19 infection rate – the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks – has exceeded 25.

In Malta’s case, Lithuanian health authorities put the infection rate at 28.4 per 100,000 people in the last two weeks.

Countries with an infection rate of between 16 and 25 are allowed to travel to the country, but must self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in Lithuania.

The news comes as Malta’s position on European safe travel lists comes under increasing pressure due to the spike in the number of new cases on the island.

Malta has already been removed from Latvia’s safe-travel list, while it may also be removed from Ireland’s safe-travel list when their Health Ministry update it.