LONDON (AP) – Britain is advising people not to travel to Spain and has removed the country from the list of safe places to visit following a surge of COVID-19 cases.
The Department for Transport issued a statement late Saturday warning that as of midnight, anyone returning from vacation in Spain would have to self-isolate.
“Following a significant change over the last week in both the level and pace of change in confirmed cases, Spain has been removed from the list of countries where people do not have to self-isolate when arriving into to the UK,” the Department for Transport said in a statement.
People already on holiday in Spain were being urged to return home as normal and check the Foreign Office”s advice pages for further information.
Spain has reported over 900 new daily infections for the last two days as authorities warn that the country that lost over 28,000 lives before getting its outbreak under control could be facing the start of a second major outbreak.
“Protecting public health is our absolute priority and we have taken this decision to limit any potential spread to the U.K.,” the government said.
Britain has Europe’s worst outbreak, with over 45,800 confirmed virus-related deaths.
Britain’s foreign secretary defended the government´s decision to immediately impose COVID-19 quarantine measures on U.K. travellers returning from Spain, saying it just wasn´t possible to give them more notice.
Dominic Raab told Sky News that vague advice would have created more uncertainty. He said that the government must be able to take quick action to fight the virus.
The quick decision threw the plans of thousands into chaos – many of whom were startled to see such a decision imposed so quickly.
Zeta Hill is among them. The teacher from Essex in southeast England had been on holiday in Mallorca for 12 days and is due to fly back on Tuesday.
She said that while she knew she was taking a risk, the Balearic islands haven´t been as badly affected as other parts of Spain.
She said that she and her husband “have been well behaved and followed the rules, but then you look at people crowding the beaches in the U.K. a few weeks back and being really unsafe and there will have been no consequences for them.”