• Covid in Malta.

    The first students return to Rome: "End of a nightmare"

  • Malta, flights to repatriate students in quarantine.

    The others?

    "With English schools closed it's vacation"

  • Covid, at least 120 Italian children quarantined on the island of Malta

  • Outbreaks in Malta, 70 underage students locked in quarantine

Share

July 23, 2021The odyssey for the 157 young Italian students quarantined in Malta because they tested positive for Covid during a study holiday ends: they returned to Rome this evening.



To allow their repatriation, the Maltese national tourism agency (MTA) organized a charter to Rome Fiumicino operated by Neos Air with a Boeing 787-9 Dremliner that arrived at the Roman airport shortly after 8 pm. transit through the airport but are accompanied by medical and Civil Protection personnel and divided and transferred to the Covid hotel. 



The story

The young people became infected during a study holiday. The Maltese government excludes the organization of return flights for those who have entered the country for tourism and have been placed in quarantine: only language students placed in solitary confinement will be allowed on the evacuation flights organized by the Maltese authorities.



The Ministry of Tourism in view of the reopening of the schools had launched a campaign of strong incentives, including discounts for stays and distribution of voucher blocks for 300 euros to all students. The outbreaks that have ignited in English schools have more than a hundredfold the infections in Malta in just three weeks (the active cases were 23 on June 27, 2,346 yesterday: over 90% of the unvaccinated, over a quarter of total young foreign students).



The more than 40 English schools in Malta and Gozo were closed by the government on 14 July, with just five days' notice. The school association has also estimated the damage suffered by the sector 40 million euros. At the beginning of the week the government of Valletta has already sent home, with two charters operated by the government company Malta MedAir, the students placed in quarantine for contacts they had but negative to the tests: on Monday the first flight brought 58 Italians back to Rome and continued to Frankfurt with a group of Germans, on Tuesday a second flight made a stopover first in Paris and then in Madrid.