Finland on Wednesday announced it has decided to reinstate internal border controls and restrictions on travel to and from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Malta and Norway, Finnish media report.
Controls and restrictions at the external border, in turn, will be reinstated on travel to and from Cyprus, Ireland, Japan and San Marino.
Travel across the internal border will remain possible for family-related, work-related and other justified reasons, according to the daily newspaper. The decisions to reinstate the controls and entry restrictions were made based on an epidemiological assessment of the coronavirus situation in other countries.
The Finnish government government has previously outlined that the restrictions will apply to countries that have reported more than eight coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the latest two-week period. The threshold value is currently exceeded, albeit only marginally, also by Estonia, Italy, Lithuania and Slovakia.
It is the latest blow to the Maltese tourism industry as the number of Covid-19 cases in Malta reach unprecedented levels.
A few days ago, the UK placed Malta on its quarantine list, joining Denmark and Norway in announcing restrictions on travel between them and Malta on Thursday, and comes after several other countries have introduced similar restrictions as well.
Italy has announced that it requires coronavirus tests for people arriving from Croatia, Malta, Spain and Greece after a spate of new infections were registered in Italians returning home from vacation.
Both Belgium and the Netherlands meanwhile have placed Malta on their ‘orange list’ for travel.
Meanwhile, Slovenia also removed Malta from its travel green-list, joining Ireland and the three Baltic countries in this regard.
Furthermore, one requires a negative Covid-19 swab test to travel from Malta to Greece, with that negative test result having to be a maximum of 72 hours before departure to the Mediterranean destination.
Quarantine regulations are also in place for Ireland and all three Baltic countries.
People travelling to Switzerland from Malta need to go into quarantine for 10 days, even if they have a certificate showing they are negative for Covid-19.