People who test positive for Covid-19 but who have received the booster jab will be able to quarantine for 10 days instead of 14 as from next Monday.

Changes to the quarantine rules were announced on Wednesday by Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne during a visit to the vaccination centre at the University of Malta.

Currently, anyone who tests positive has to quarantine for 14 days. Primary contacts, meaning people who come in direct contact with positive cases, have to quarantine for at least seven days.

The business community and the Opposition have been calling for a shorter quarantine period for people who have received the booster jab.

Fearne announced that, as from Monday 3 Janauary, people who have the booster and test positive can leave quarantine after 10 days, given that no symptoms are present during the last three days of quarantine.

Primary contacts can continue to make use of the ‘early release’ system and leave quarantine after seven days, after obtaining a negative rapid test result.

Also from Monday, secondary contacts, who are people who live in the same residents with individuals who would have come in contact with positive cases, do not have to quarantine if they are vaccinated with the booster.

Fearne said that, as from Thursday, half of Malta’s adult population will have reiceved the booster.

Fearne said that changes to the quarantine rules are a result of the advanced booster takeup.

He also announced that as from Monday, the number of vaccination centres in Malta and Gozo will increase from 7 to 24. He urged anyone aged 18 and over to register for the booster shot.