The British government has, at short notice, imposed a quarantine for all travelers returning home after visiting Spain.
Foreign Minister Dominic Raab says the government in London has received data showing that the number of people infected with coronavirus in Spain is rising sharply.
Raab tells Sky News that they received the Spanish infection figures on Friday.
– They showed a big jump all over the Spanish mainland. It was then assessed finished yesterday afternoon (Saturday, ed.) And we made the decision as soon as we could. We will not apologize for that, he explains.
The government in Oslo announced on Friday that anyone returning to Norway after traveling in Spain will be quarantined for ten days. Denmark currently has none restrictions in relation to Spain travel, but citizens who have traveled to region Aragon in Spain, encouraged to be tested for coronavirus on return. It is because region has more than 50 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Tourism suffers
According to BBC more than 900 new coronavirus infections were reported in Spain on Friday.
The increase comes just over a month after the Spanish government reopened most of society after suffering hard during the corona pandemic for several months. Over 28,000 have died with covid-19 since March in Spain.
Tourism is one of Spain’s major industries. The reopening gave hope of saving some of the season. But the British government’s announcement of quarantine may prove to be a serious blow to the Spanish economy.
Tourism accounts for 12 percent of the country’s total economy, and last year, British tourists accounted for 20 percent of those who vacationed in Spain, writes Reuters.
At Madrid Barajas airport, the news agency has spoken with British Emily Harrison, who was to fly back to
– It’s really bad and it comes so suddenly. There has not been much time to prepare for it, so all panic right now, she says.
On top of the British authorities’ introduction of quarantine, the travel company TUI’s British branch has canceled all trips to mainland Spain until 9 August.
This is stated by the company in a statement to the news agency Reuters.
These are trips to the mainland – and thus not trips to the Canary Islands such as Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote or the Balearic Islands such as Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca.
Source: dr.dk
