SPAIN remains on the safe list for people to travel to without having to quarantine for 14 days despite a surge in cases, it was confirmed today.
People from England can continue to flock to the sunny beaches despite the country warning of a possible second wave to hit them.
And holidays to Eastern Europe can now return from Tuesday as the Government today added several places to the list of places that people from England no longer have to isolate on their return.
People coming back into England from Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and St Vincent and the Grenadines won’t have to isolate for 14 days.
All travellers, including those from exempt destinations, will still be required to fill out a form which says where they will be staying when they get here.
The Government said it will now update with any changes to the so-called air bridges list on a weekly basis if they are needed.
The Foreign Office said it is prepared to respond rapidly if the health situation of a country deteriorates.
It means that people could face the prospect of going off on holiday while they are told it’s safe not to have to isolate when they return, only for the advice to change later on.
The public are being urged to check each country’s travel advice before they head off – as each one is different.
They also may have to isolate or take a virus test when they enter the country.
The destinations exempt from border measures will still be kept under close review in case anything changes.
Spain could be suffering a second wave of coronavirus, one of the country’s leading health chiefs admitted today.
There were 971 new cases yesterday – 241 more than the previous day and a record since the end of the country’s state of emergency.
It took the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the nation since the start of the coronavirus crisis to 270,166.
Tourism Minister Maria Reyes Maroto tried to put a positive on an increasingly worrying situation amid concern over the French border.
He insisted the health situation in Catalonia and Aragon, the country’s two worst affected areas, was “getting better”.
Deputy emergency health director Maria Jose Sierra, speaking ahead of Spain’s possible exclusion from Downing Street’s quarantine ‘green’ list, said: “We have important outbreaks.
“It could be a second wave. We’ll have to see what happens in the next few weeks.”
It was the first time a senior Spanish health official had used the expression since a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases following the end of the country’s state of emergency on June 21.
Spanish epidemiologist Juan Jose Badiola said he could not rule out a national return to the draconian state of emergency lockdown, when people were ordered to stay indoors unless it was to go to buy food or head to the chemist’s.
He told Spanish TV station Telecinco: “I would like to think we don’t have to go back to that but I can’t rule it out completely because the rate of new infections is becoming very worrying.”
Any change to the current situation would affect thousands of British tourists currently enjoying the sun in the UK’s favourite holiday destination.
