An Italian man from Umbria tested positive for Covid-19 and is suspected to have caught the virus while on holiday in Malta some days ago.
The news was reported by Italian media outlet Corriere dell Umbria on Wednesday.
The man resides in Stroncone in the province of Terni and is 27 years old. He was symptomatic when health workers of the Terni Health District administered a swab test which gave back a positive result for Covid-19.
The media outlet reported that the man had returned to Italy from Malta a few days beforehand and is currently in home isolation.
An epidemiological investigation is underway to trace the man’s close contacts, they said.
The news comes as Malta is going through a renewed cycle of the virus, with the number of active cases skyrocketing to 267 as of today and the reproduction number rising to 1.39 as of yesterday.
It will no doubt spark concern of further scrutiny on Malta when it comes to travel – Malta has already been removed from safe-travel lists in the Baltics and Ireland, and risks being removed from the UK’s safe travel list as well.