Thousands of British holidaymakers will have to face a 14-day quarantine on their return to all four nations of the UK from Spain. This includes travellers from Mallorca, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.
This sudden measure has been put into place without any warning and will take place from midnight tonight due to a spike in coronavirus cases in Spain. The move will affect thousands of holidaymakers who had gone on holiday to the Mediterranean hotspot after feeling it is okay to do so as Spain was on the ‘corridor’ list.
The move affects people already in Spain and those that have returned in the last few days are likely to be offered a coronavirus test.
Travel company TUI, has said it planned to cancel all holidays to Spain in response to this announcement. Nightclubs have already been closed in Catalonia for two weeks amid fears of a spike.
The 14-day self-isolation rule has come on the heels of the news that Spain has seen a surge in new cases of Coronavirus in recent days. A Spanish health official warned that this could signify a second wave of Covid-19.
The foreign office is again advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain and the country has been removed from the airbridge scheme.
In a statement EasyJet said:
‘We are monitoring the situation and in the meantime continue to provide some flexibility for if customers who, if they no longer wish to travel, can transfer their flights without a change fee or receive a voucher for the value of their booking.
‘We plan to operate our full schedule in the coming days.”
This is a devastating turn for travellers and the travel industry who have been waiting for travel to open up again. How this will affect the viability of the recently compiled airbridge – designed to alleviate the need for a blanket quarantining of all travellers – is yet to be seen.
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