Malta flies home COVID-positive language students amid surge
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) - Malta on Thursday began flying home students who tested positive for COVID-19 while studying English at schools in the small Mediterranean island nation.
Malta's Health Ministry closed language schools on July 14 amid a spike in new cases, which included several hundred foreign students. Concerns were raised as the language schools cater also to minors.
The first medical charter flight carried 100 students bound for Paris. More flights were planned in coming days.
Earlier this week, nearly 200 students who tested negative flew home via Rome, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid.
The Malta Tourism Authority said it was covering the cost of the repatriation flights, which were being organized with the help of health authorities.
The number of active virus cases in Malta has risen from 43 on July 1 to 2,487 on Thursday.
___
Follow AP´s pandemic coverage at:
https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
