By Mark T Connor • Published: 26 Jul 2020 • 17:21
Spain is safer than the UK. Pic: Twitter
Spain has seen COVID-19 cases rise in the last few weeks, however that does not prove there are any more ‘new’ cases, only that there have been more tests available and that those tests have said that there are more people with the antibody in their system, The test alone does not show ‘new’ cases at all, and Britain announced at around 9pm GMT on Saturday that it was taking Mainland Spain off a safe-travel list. The quarantine took effect hours later
TUI UK, part of the TUI, holiday company, said it would cancel all flights and holidays to mainland Spain up to Aug. 9, but would still have flights to the Balearic and Canary islands.
Dominic Raab, (British Foreign Secretary), described the quarantine decision on Sunday, as a “real-time response” to an increase in infections in Spain. “We can’t make apologies … we must be able to take swift, decisive action,” he said on Sky News.
Jonathan Ashworth, (Labour Party’s health policy chief), slammed the government for its “frankly shambolic” handling of the measure.
With most of the new cases being limited to the northeastern region of Catalonia, and neighboring regions, most of the criticism has been leveled at the fact that the rest of the country is being penalized for what’s happening in a few regions.
Why are the restrictions, and quarantines not applied to the regions effected, instead of the whole country, at least if that were the case then the local tourist economies, (on the Costa del Sol for example), would not be effected and would have half a chance at getting some part of the seasonal trade that has been decimated by the pandemic?
“This is ridiculous. There are almost zero cases here and there’s a far higher possibility of becoming infected by it when I get back to Britain,” said John Snelling, 50, from Stratford-upon-Avon, who was on holiday in Menorca.
Spain is safe for tourists and Spaniards, the Spanish government insisted on Sunday after Britain abruptly imposed a two-week coronavirus quarantine on travellers returning from there, a decision that filled holidaymakers with anger and disbelief.
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In my opinion and understanding it is quite absurd and illogical due to the fact UK has high death count and the daily infected rate is nowhere to be called stable. Let’s be realistic, once the air, land and sea border is open it is quite possible that either someone will bring the virus or someone will carry that back or even nothing happens. This virus is perhaps here to stay for a long time whereas following guidelines can certainly curb it from spreading further. Media is not helping either and I won’t be surprised to see the virus disappear by the time a proper vaccine will be available. I think countries who have bigger infected rates and even countries who are thinking of imposing restrictions may follow the 3 day quarantine rule where PCR test will be applied to each and every passengers during their arrivals. I mean, if people can go for holidays then it should not be a problem to pay a small sum of money for the test. In a way, it will be easier to travel and get notified if someone is infected or not. If the test comes positive then 14 days quarantine rule can be applied whereas if it comes negative then you are free to move after 3 days of self-isolation or in other words the quicker report is delivered through e-mail or mobile. Under these circumstances, people seem to be panicking and feeling distressed whereas everyone should be cautious and maintain proper guidelines. If these sort of rash or imprudent decisions are made frequently then it won’t provide any stability in the economy and as a result people will lose jobs and companies won’t be able to recover from this crisis. Ultimately life will continue but I would prefer proper and strict implementation rather than just something that won’t be useful or beneficial in the long-run.
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