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Tourism-dependent Spain aims to reopen borders to visitors around the end of June as its coronavirus lockdown fully unwinds, a minister said on Monday, in a much-needed boost for the ravaged travel sector.
Madrid last week surprised its EU partners by imposing a two-week quarantine on all overseas travellers and effectively keeping borders closed, saying that was needed to avoid importing a second wave of Covid-19.
But the move was meant to be temporary and transport minister Jose Luis Abalos said it would be phased out in parallel with travel being allowed within Spain, whose regions are easing restrictions in different phases.
“We can’t allow foreigners to travel while the Spanish population is confined,” he told TVE.
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“From late June, we’ll start the tourism activity, I hope ... We must make Spain an attractive country from the health point of view.”
Tourism accounts for over 12 per cent of Spain’s economic output. Even with a reopening of borders in late June, the industry’s revenues will fall by €93 billion-€124 billion, lobby group Exceltur estimated in a report last month.
One of the worst-hit nations with 27,650 deaths and 231,350 infections, Spain is slowly easing a strict lockdown in place since mid-March which had meant for weeks people could not even go out for exercise.
Europe reopening
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Portugal, cafes reopened and children wearing masks went back to school for the first time in months. In Italy shops, restaurants and churches reopened their doors to spring sunshine on Monday, and Greece welcomed visitors back to the Acropolis.
Italians could once again sip their morning cappuccino at the bar, albeit at a distance from one another, in what prime minister Giuseppe Conte admitted at the weekend was a “calculated risk” in rolling back the curbs.
“I haven’t worked for two and a half months. It’s a beautiful, exciting day,” said Valentino Casanova, a barman in Caffe Canova in Rome’s central Piazza del Popolo.
Countries around the world, at different stages in the pandemic, are wrangling with decisions on when to ease restrictions, weighing the threat to life against the threat to economic survival.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned countries against reopening too early and said “we have a long road to travel”.
More than 4.71 million people are reported to have been infected by the coronavirus and 312,826 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Italy has the third highest death toll after the US and Britain.
In Greece, which has recorded only 156 Covid-19 deaths, people flocked to the seaside on Saturday and were allowed back in church the next day.
On Monday, tourists were allowed back at ancient monuments, including the Acropolis in Athens, where workers wearing masks and plastic face shields reminded the few visitors of social distancing rules as they entered the turnstiles.
“I visited the Acropolis today, a world monument that continues to inspire with its marbles shining under the sun,” said president Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
Four weeks into an early but gradual easing of their lockdown, Danes were again able to enjoy a latte at their local cafe.
“The quick shutdown and the fact that Danes actually listened to messages from authorities about good hygiene and social distancing are the main reasons we’ve come this far,” said Hans Jorn Kolmos, a professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Southern Denmark.
Danes being less prone to hugging and kissing as a form of greeting had also been a factor, he said.
Brazil
In Brazil, which now has one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, president Jair Bolsonaro posed for photographs with children from a crowd of supporters on Sunday.
As he flouted public health advice, the mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, warned that its health system was in danger of collapse, the BBC reported.
South Africa on Sunday reported 1,160 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily number since the first case was recorded in March. “As of today, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 15,515, with 1,160 new cases identified in the last 24 hour cycle of testing,” the health ministry said in a statement. The Western Cape province, popular with tourists, accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the national numbers.
Rohingya refugees
Hundreds of Rohingya rescued by Bangladesh and sent to a flood-prone island after being stranded at sea for weeks should be moved to existing refugee camps, the UN secretary general has said. The appeal by Antonio Guterres to Bangladesh’s foreign minister in a letter obtained Sunday by AFP comes as concern grows over a coronavirus outbreak in the sprawling camps near the border with Myanmar. A fourth virus case has been detected in the crowded camps, officials said Sunday.
The WHO is to raise the question of Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly, which opens virtually on Monday, before one of its committees. Diplomatic allies of Taiwan, including Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay, have formally requested to invite Taiwan to the meeting as an observer. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has also said publicly he wants Taiwan in the room.
India
India has extended its lockdown to May 31st, but with some easing of restrictions. States are being given greater power to reopen markets and standalone stores, bus and other public transport travel being allowed between and within states. However, shopping malls, air travel, cinemas, schools and places of worship will remain closed. Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and other key regions are still fighting to control the rising curve of coronavirus infections. The health ministry on Sunday reported a record jump of nearly 5,000 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the number of confirmed cases to 90,927, with 2,872 deaths. – Reuters/Guardian