The Malta Football Association announced that defender Zach Muscat has entered a period of self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.
Muscat, who plays for Portuguese club Casa Pia AC, did a swab test before reporting for international duty and subsequently did not join up with the national squad after receiving notification of the positive result.
Muscat had been called up to Malta’s squad for Wednesday’s friendly match against Liechtenstein and the UEFA Nations League qualifiers against Andorra (14 November) and the Faroe Islands (17 November).
Devis Mangia’s options for this month’s commitments at the National Stadium have been undermined by COVID-19 issues as a number of players are unavailable.
Last week, Balzan’s Samir Arab had been withdrawn from the squad as a precautionary measure after returning a borderline COVID-19 result.