Spain to keep Borders Locked – Authority

Spain’s Transport Minister on Monday said the country will not re-open its borders to tourists for another five weeks.

“I hope that we can resume tourism activities at the end of June.

We cannot allow foreigners to enter while we are still preventing the Spanish population from leaving their homes,’’ Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said on Monday.

The minister’s comments came after Italy, alongside Spain, one of the European countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, announced it would open its borders to tourists from June 3.

Spain is gradually relaxing restrictions on public life as the country’s coronavirus outbreak ebbs.

However, Spaniards would only be allowed to leave their own provinces during the third phase of easing of restrictions at the end of June. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Abalos said this meant the timing of re-opening the border was “a question of consistency.”

“We cannot tell a gentleman or a family in Madrid that they are not allowed to go to their holiday apartment in Valencia and that at the same time foreigners are allowed to come in,” he told Spanish television.

The government wants to extend the state of emergency which has been in place since mid-March by another month until the end of June.

Parliament will debate and vote on the proposed extension on Wednesday.

Spain’s caseload has been falling in recent weeks.

An additional 87 coronavirus cases were confirmed in the 24 hours to Sunday, marking the first time in two months the number of new daily cases fell below 100.

Credit: dpa/NAN)