On Tuesday, February 2, the Spanish government announced a travel ban on flights from Brazil and South Africa due to the high COVID-19 death toll.
Spanish residents and citizens will still be allowed to return home from those countries. Also, travelers will be permitted to layover in Spain, only if it is for no longer than 24 hours and they do not leave the airport.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Spain has recorded more than 2.8 million cases and nearly 60,000 deaths.
Another 724 people passed away on Tuesday. The last time the country saw more deaths caused by the disease was in the first months of the pandemic, on April 2, 2020. That day, 996 lives were lost because of Coronavirus.
While Spain is struggling with COVID-19 fatalities, the number of daily infections and hospitalization decreases.
Just over 29,000 new cases were reported yesterday, compared to 33,127 newly infected people the same day last week.
However, 24% of all hospital beds, including the temporary ones, and 45% of the country’s intensive care units are still occupied by Coronavirus patients.
Along with treating non-Covid-19 cases as well, numerous Spanish hospitals operate over their 100% capacity.
Therefore, most of the flights from Brazil and South Africa will be suspended today, February 3, to prevent the spread of the more contagious and harder to treat variants of the virus.
On Monday, February 1, four travelers from Brazil tested positive for COVID-19 at the Madrid airport. Whether or not they carried the Brazilian variant remains to be confirmed.
Spain has detected at least one case of the South African mutation, whereas the U.K. strain has been reported multiple times in various parts of the country.
Government officials already halted flights from the U.K. on December 22. At the moment, only Spanish residents and citizens returning from the U.K. are allowed to enter the country.
General entry rules include filling the Health Control Form (FCS). All incomers must also undergo a basic health check at the airport. That means they will have their temperature taken and will be examined visually for possible COVID-19 symptoms.
Travelers from high-risk areas must present proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival.
Spain has already rolled out its vaccination campaign, with priority given to the elderly, nursing home residents, and health care workers.
More than 1.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, of which 418,000 people have received both doses.
Nonetheless, the process moves along slowly as the country is dealing with the lack of supply. So far, it has used as many as 95% of all the vaccines received.