Spain calls for harmonisation of travel restrictions

Spanish foreign minister Arantxa González Laya called for the harmonisation of European travel measures on Tuesday to limit problems for tourists and tourism operators during the pandemic.

She also called for the UK government and the European Union to look into more factors other than just the number of positive cases for coronavirus in a country when deciding whether to impose quarantines on travellers.

In an interview on Spanish radio on Tuesday, she said that they should also take into consideration the number of tests being conducted, the proportion of asymptomatic cases and the number of hospitalised patients.

The proposal to the EU includes “common criteria and thresholds for member states when deciding whether to introduce travel restrictions.” It also asks states to “consider the percentage of positive tests from all Covid-19 tests carried out in a given area during a seven-day period.”

Over 100 countries, including a few European ones, have banned transit from Spain or have cut off travel links with the country entirely due to the coronavirus situation there. Spain currently tops the list of restrictions on mobility in Europe.

The highest-profile restrictions include those from the United Kingdom, which have dealt a severe blow to one of Spain’s key industries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday commented on the management of new coronavirus outbreaks in Spain to explain the travel restrictions that have been implemented by dozens of governments on the country.

Those countries have put them in place due to a lack of information, said the WHO’s Bruce Aylward in Geneva on Tuesday, which means that they “are not able to manage the risks, and they are not able to understand the risks.”