The question of what happens if you’ve tested positive for Covid-19 and therefore have been unable to get the third jab of the vaccine is one which is on the lips of many: particularly those who tested positive via a rapid test, rather than a PCR test.

As from 17 January, new regulations came into force which meant that for people to go to a host of establishments – such as restaurants, bars, gyms, and band clubs – they needed to show a valid Covid-19 vaccine certificate.

For most people – because the validity of the second dose of the vaccine is for only three months – that meant that they needed to take the Covid-19 booster shot in order for their certificate to be valid for use.

These measures came into force in response to an Omicron variant-induced surge in cases, which saw Malta have a peak of over 15,000 active cases of the virus at one point.

The clinical advice for those who test positive but have not taken their Covid-19 booster is that they must allow four weeks to elapse since their positive test in order to go for the third jab.

This has left a lot of people – particularly those between the ages of 18 and 35 who could only go for their booster shot when Malta was in the midst of the aforementioned surge in cases – unable to get boosted because they had tested positive.

For such people, the authorities have said that those who tested positive may download a recovery certificate and use that for up to six weeks after their positive test, at which point they would then need to get their booster.

However – herein lies the issue: due to EU and ECDC rules, only those who have tested positive via a PCR test can apply for this recovery certificate.  Those who tested positive for Covid-19 through a rapid test, but not a PCR test, cannot apply for it.

This has left a significant number of people – particularly as the number of rapid tests being done during the spike in cases was actually higher than the number of PCR tests being done – not knowing whether they were caught in some legal black hole which means that they cannot go anywhere for four weeks because they cannot get the booster.

This, however, is not the case.

Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci shared the solution to this matter when answering questions from The Malta Independent during a press conference last week preceding the enforcement of the new regulations.

“According to EU rules, so far, if a person has tested positive via a rapid test, they are not eligible for a recovery certificate,” Gauci said.

“However, for the measures which come in to force from 17 January, those people who have tested positive and have not had the chance to take the booster as a result of the recommendation not take the booster until 4 weeks have passed since the positive test will be allowed to go into establishments by showing the result of their positive PCR test or rapid test,” she explained.

“The important thing is that the person who is the owner of the establishment checks that the positive test was not more than 6 weeks prior,” she said.

Gauci explained that the positive test result is valid for 6 weeks in order to allow positive patients to have the time to go and get their booster four weeks after testing positive, and then to allow a further two weeks for them to be able to update their vaccine certificate accordingly.