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article_detail
Date Published: 26/06/2020
ARCHIVED - UK and Spain in negotiations to create tourism green corridor
On Monday it is hoped that an announcement will be made to remove the UK quarantine for travellers
On Monday 29th the UK Government is due to make an announcement about the current situation regarding the 14 day quarantine requirement for anyone entering the UK, as well as reveal the results of discussions between the UK and international governments to create “safe air bridges” or “travel corridors” between the UK and other countries so that British nationals can holiday abroad this summer.
At the moment the Foreign Office continues to advise against travel to Spain, meaning that the travel insurance of Brits coming to Spain is invalid should they find themselves in a Spanish hospital suffering from Covid-19.
The Government is planning to take the last steps of the de-escalation in the UK with the creation of air bridges, which would start from July 4th, coinciding with the opening of hotels, bars and restaurants to “popular” and those considered to be "low risk vacation destinations "I n relation to Covid-19, such as Spain, France, Italy, Greece or Germany.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps has announced that the decision to establish these safe corridors will be announced on Monday, when the government will also announce whether passengers on these routes are exempt from complying with the mandatory 14-day quarantine, which, however , will continue to stand for those who do not come from the nations included in the covenant.
The UK imposed the 14 day quarantine on June 8th for anyone arriving by plane, train or ferry to the United Kingdom at the risk of being fined for non-compliance, in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Before a parliamentary committee on the management of the health crisis, Shapps stated that the countries with which the corridors are agreed must have an “equivalent” public health model to the British National Health System (NHS) and an equivalent tracking system.
"We want to be sure that there are no outbreaks by Britons travelling and returning or people coming from other areas, and quarantine serves this purpose, but we are also aware that there are areas where the virus is more under control and we are in talks with them, so we will say more about it on June 29th, " he said.
The first safe air bridges are to be established with countries in the Mediterranean and southern Europe, which includes Spain, the most popular tourist destination for the British, attracting 18 million holidaying Brits a year and in which thousands of British residents own second homes.
It is intended that a second phase of the plan will include other destinations such as Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands .
Spain itself has removed the need for a 14 day quarantine and is allowing British tourists to enter Spain once again, visitors undergoing a temperature test, a visual test and supplying contact details for onward tracing.
There is significant concern in Spain about the imminent arrival of a large number of foreign tourists as the country has managed to reduce its own level of contagion significantly and there are fears of a second wave of Covid-19 caused by “imported cases”.
The British expat community itself is deeply concerned about the potential for contagion after undergoing 10 weeks of lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus here.
Some residents are looking forward to the arrival of family members and the return of partners who were trapped in the UK by the virus, but others are concerned about the scenes shown on British media on Thursday of thousands of Brits packing beaches and parks in the UK and the potential for an increase in imported cases here as a result.
However, for both the governments of the UK and Spain, their biggest worry is the economy and the potentially devastating economic implications of a stagnant tourist sector.
In Spain tourism accounts for 12% of GDP and the British are the most important market for Spain.
The tourism and hospitality industry has pressured the British government to modify its Covid measures claiming that they are putting 1.5 million jobs at risk in the United Kingdom and airlines are on the verge of suing the British Government over its measures, so desperate are they to get their planes off the ground again and help the sector to recover from its current disastrous position.
Several groups of health professionals have warned that the United Kingdom faces the "real risk" of a second Covid-19 spike occurring next winter and have advised the Government to take measures to prevent further deaths, and the same warnings are being echoed in Spain and around the world by equivalent groups.
Spain is currently dealing with around 40 outbreaks around the country, 11 of them considered to be serious and most relating to “imported cases”, and during the last week there has been a steady rise in new cases, mainly linked to relaxed mobility.There are now 9,736,692 confirmed cases worldwide, and 492,379 deaths, although it is widely recognised that these figures in no way reflect the true scale of the pandemic as so many cases are unreported.
The UK has 307,980 reported cases and 43,230 deaths to date.On Thursday June 25th alone, as thousands packed UK beaches, 149 people died of Covid and there were 1118 new cases reported in the UK.
WHO continues to warn about resurgence of Covid
Europe has seen an increase in weekly cases of Covid-19 for the first time in months as restrictions are eased, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
More than 2.6 million cases of Covid-19 and 195,000 deaths have been reported in the WHO's European region, which is expansive, covering 54 countries and seven territories across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Almost 20,000 new cases and more than 700 new deaths are being recorded daily
"For weeks, I have spoken about the risk of resurgence as countries adjust measures," Dr Kluge told a virtual news conference on Thursday.
"In several countries across Europe, this risk has now become a reality - 30 countries have seen increases in new cumulative cases over the past two weeks.”
"In 11 of these countries, accelerated transmission has led to very significant resurgence that if left unchecked will push health systems to the brink once again."
Despite warning about resurgences, he said the WHO anticipated that the situation would calm down further in the majority of countries over the summer.
"But we have indeed to prepare for the fall, when Covid-19 may meet seasonal influenza, pneumonia, other diseases as well, because ultimately the virus is still actively circulating in our communities and there is no effective treatment, no effective vaccine, yet."
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