Coronavirus – UK advises against non-essential travel to Spanish islands

Coronavirus – The UK has updated its advice against all non-essential travel to Spain to include the Balearic and Canary Islands following a rise in coronavirus cases.

Foreign Office guidance was changed on Monday to include both mainland Spain and islands such as Ibiza and Tenerife.

Holiday firm Jet2 has told passengers not to go to the airport after cancelling flights to all Spanish destinations on Tuesday.

The change is in addition to the self-isolation policy that began on Sunday.

The amended advice came after calls for clarity from travel companies and as airlines announced sweeping flight cancellations.

Jet2 said it will not be operating flights to Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza, or to mainland Spain, but will be running a schedule of flights back from those destinations on Tuesday.

Holiday operator Tui, meanwhile, said it would cancel all its packages to the Balearic and Canary Islands until 31 July and to mainland Spain until 9 August.

Travellers returning to the UK from anywhere in Spain must now self-isolate for 14 days at a registered address.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have considered the overall situation for British nationals travelling to and from the Balearic and Canary Islands, including the impact of the requirement to self-isolate on return to the UK, and concluded that we should advise British nationals against all non-essential travel to the whole of Spain.”

Speaking earlier, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman warned “no travel is risk-free during this Coronavirus pandemic”.

The rate of infection in Spain is 35.1 cases per 100,000 people, while the UK is at 14.7, according to the latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Data up to 19 July suggested there were lower rates of infection in the Balearic and Canary Islands than in mainland Spain.

Meanwhile, a government source told the BBC that the Spanish government was lobbying for the Balearic and Canary Islands to be exempt from the quarantine policy, and that discussions on the matter had taken place.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the decision to impose a 14-day quarantine as an “error” as it applied to the whole of Spain, rather than affected regions, the Reuters news agency reported.

Among the thousands affected by the change in travel advice was Tom Clasby, who had checked into an airport hotel near Stansted with his fiancé, their two daughters, and other family members, ahead of a holiday to Majorca.

Mr Clasby, 26, was due to depart at 06:55 BST on Tuesday but now faces having to return home to Bury St Edmunds.

“We’re in a situation where we can’t do anything yet and I don’t actually know what to do. The poor little girls have been so excited for this holiday – it’s the second holiday this year we’ve had cancelled,” he told the BBC.

“We are just very disappointed, the girls will be so upset in the morning.”

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Source – https://www.bbc.co.uk/