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Spain and Greece are tightening restrictions in tourist hotspots in response to a rising number of infections driven by the Delta variant.
Night curfews are to be reimposed in more than 30 towns in the Mediterranean region of Valencia, including in the city of Valencia and popular coastal destination of Benicassim. Social gatherings of more than 10 people will also be banned.
Spain said it had seen its coronavirus case rate triple in just two weeks.
In Greece, unvaccinated people will be banned from bars, cinemas and theatres, after authorities blamed soaring infection numbers on people refusing to have the vaccine. The restrictions will apply nationwide including on the Greek islands.
“After a year and a half, no one can claim ignorance about the coronavirus anymore,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address. “The country will not shut down again due to attitude adopted by certain people … It’s not Greece that’s a danger, but unvaccinated Greeks.”
Both destinations are on the UK’s amber list and therefore set to welcome an influx of British holidaymakers when the new double vaccination quarantine rules come into force on July 19.
Scroll down for more updates.
Spain curfew to forbid public activities after midnight
The AFP has more detail on Spain’s reintroduction of restrictions in the region of Valencia.
It reports:
Regional leaders in northeastern Catalonia said all public activities must finish at half past midnight, and no more than 10 people will be allowed to gather in private or public places.
“The data are more than worrying, they are frankly very, very bad,” Catalonia’s public health secretary Josep Maria Argimon told reporters in Barcelona.
The whole of Spain has been facing a “rapid” and “significant” increase in the incidence of the virus for several weeks, with 368 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last 14 days, said Fernando Simon, the central government’s chief epidemiologist.
The latest wave of the disease has hit in particular under-30s who have not been vaccinated, he added.
Credit:
Getty
In the province of Valencia, south of Catalonia, a 1 to 6 am curfew was restored in 32 towns, including the regional capital Valencia, Spain’s third largest city after Madrid and Barcelona. All meetings were restricted to six people.
In the face of the increase in Covid-19 cases, neighbouring France last week advised people not to travel to Spain, labelling it a “red zone” country.
Hospital occupancy numbers in Spain are increasing slowly while the death rate is not rising at all, as so many more vulnerable people have been vaccinated, Simon said.
According to the health ministry, 59 percent of Spain’s 47 million people have received at least one vaccine dose, while 45 percent have been fully vaccinated.
Too early to be talking about freedom as virus is still ‘troubling and dangerous’, warns WHO
It is too early to to be talking about freedom because Covid is still “troubling and dangerous”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.
Dr David Nabarro told Radio 4’s Today programme the virus is “troubling and dangerous”, that the ”pandemic is advancing ferociously around the world” and that “I don’t think we’ve anywhere near got through the worst of it“.
Asked about the Government’s switch to personal responsibility, he said: “All this doesn’t quite fit with the position that was taken by Britain, along with other nations, some months ago when there was a real effort to try to prevent large numbers of people getting the disease, partly because of the risk of death and partly because of the recognition of the risk of long Covid.
“It’s necessary to be unequivocal on this particular challenge. What does urging caution mean? It’s important that everybody knows the best possible advice on how to prevent themselves being infected. I accept that vaccination has changed the nature of the equation in the UK but quite honestly from any point of view it’s too early to be talking about massive relaxation or freedom when the outbreak curve is on such a sharp ascent.
“Yes, relax, but don’t have these mixed messages about what’s going on. This dangerous virus hasn’t gone away, it’s variants are coming back and are threatening those who have already been vaccinated – we have to take it seriously.”
Five stories to keep an eye on today
Good morning and welcome to the travel live blog. Here aere five stories we’ll be watching today…
- Oxford residents told to take Covid tests before travelling
- Heathrow ‘chaos’ as 120 security staff told to isolate
- Four tourists ordered off Bali for violating virus restrictions
- Heathrow passengers down almost 90pc on pre-pandemic levels
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India medical experts call for postponement of tourism