Nine passengers who returned to Pescara from Malta on Tuesday tested positive to Covid-19, Italian news agency Ansa reports.

All 70 passengers on board the plane, including those having a green pass, have been placed in quarantine for 14 days because they have been deemed to have been in contact with infected persons.

Quoting Alberto Albani, who is responsible for emergencies in the Abruzzo region, Ansa said that all passengers arriving from Malta, Spain and the UK have to undergo a test upon arrival.

When such a test was carried out on Tuesday on the flight arriving from Malta, it resulted that nine of 65 passengers tested positive. The remaining five refused the test, but they will still be obliged to spend 14 days in quarantine.

All the nine positive patients are young and have no symptoms, Ansa reports.

Malta has seen a surge of the virus in the past days, with 218 new cases registered today, the highest since March.

The Ansa report (in Italian) may be found here