Corona: travel warning for parts of Spain
Florian Tiefenböck studied human medicine at the LMU Munich. In March 2014, he joined as a student and has supported the editorial team with medical articles ever since. After receiving his medical license and practical work in internal medicine at the University Hospital Augsburg, he has been a permanent member of the team since December 2019 and, among other things, ensures the medical quality of the tools.
More posts by Florian Tiefenböck All content is checked by medical journalists.The travel warning for Spain was lifted just under six weeks ago. Now it is being reactivated on a wave of new infections - another blow to the tourism industry there. The most popular holiday island of the Germans is spared.
Because of the rapidly increasing number of corona infections in Spain, the Federal Foreign Office is now warning against tourist trips to three regions of the most popular holiday destination for Germans. According to a statement from the Foreign Office on Friday, the formal travel warning affected Catalonia with the tourist metropolis of Barcelona and the beaches of the Costa Brava as well as the inland regions of Aragón and Navarra to the west of it. This travel warning does not apply to the popular holiday islands of the Canaries and Mallorca.
Initially only discouraged
So far, the ministry had only advised against vacation trips to the three badly affected regions. This is kind of a warning level under the travel warning, which now also enables the holiday to be canceled free of charge. But on Friday the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) added the three regions to the list of risk areas, which is kept independently of the travel advice and warnings from the Foreign Office (AA). A subsequent travel warning from the Berlin authorities was expected.
If you want to cancel your trip to the affected Spanish regions, ideally contact your tour operator or travel agent directly. In the event of a dispute, the consumer advice center or legal advice may be able to help.
You can read more about the background to safety notices, travel warnings and risk areas in our article "Corona: Travel advice or risk area?".
Too many new infections
The reason given by the Federal Ministry of Health for the RKI's decision was that the threshold of more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants had been exceeded in the past seven days. For travelers returning from officially classified risk areas, a corona test is to come in the coming week - in addition to voluntary tests, which have been free of charge for all travelers from abroad since Saturday.
The red line of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days is also the red line for reactivating the travel warning. The Foreign Office did not lift them for Spain, which was particularly hard hit by the corona pandemic, on June 21, after the government ended the emergency after 14 weeks. Now, after Luxembourg, Spain is the second country in the European Union to be warned against travel again - at least in part.
Test obligation for travelers returning
The classification as a risk area means that a corona test will also apply to returnees from Catalonia, Aragón and Navarra from next week: Those who come from such an area must either be tested within 48 hours before entering the country or within 72 hours Hours after entry. Until there is a negative result, you have to be quarantined at home in Germany. Until this regulation comes into force, the following applies: Anyone coming from risk areas must be in quarantine at home for 14 days and report to the health department. It is also possible to present a negative test result that is no more than 48 hours old. (ft / dpa)
