Malta has just updated its amber list, adding Israel and many U.S. states and territories to its list of countries whose citizens can now visit the island free of quarantine restrictions. However, they are still required to present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours before arrival.

The 40 U.S. states and territories are Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Minnesota, Connecticut, Alaska, New Hampshire, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Maine, South Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Delaware, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, California, Louisiana, Arizona, West Virginia, Colorado, North Dakota, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Travel from countries not on the amber list is strictly prohibited unless travelers have spent at least 14 days in an amber list country before landing in Malta.

Despite a petition in recent weeks calling on the Maltese authorities to add Serbia and North Macedonia to the amber list, today’s update does not include the two Balkan nations. According to Serbian and Macedonian nationals working in Malta, the decision to keep their countries off the list is nonsensical, “when the number of COVID-19 infections is so low”. However, Malta’s public health chief Prof. Charmaine Gauci insisted that neither country was on an E.U. list of countries exempt from travel restrictions. One should note that so far, only 47 new COVID-19 cases have been detected on the island in June, and 51.8% of the population is now fully vaccinated.