On Tuesday, Spain’s Health Minister Carolina Darias announced an extension of the nation’s travel ban on guests from South Africa, Brazil, and the UK.
Spain is worried about rising numbers of infections from the new COVID-19 variants. The nation has been hard hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, with more than 63,000 deaths from more than three million cases of the infection to date.
On Friday, Spain confirmed its first case of the Brazilian variant, two cases of the South African variant, and 479 cases of the British variant of the virus.
The discovery that the AstraZeneca vaccine gives limited safety against the COVID-19 variant that’s prevalent in South Africa has raised concerns for many nations. Travel bans are being prolonged all the time.
This has also prompted Spain to extend its travel ban on guests from South Africa. The Spanish government fears the new variants may spread more easily if a travel ban is not in place to limit the entry of travelers from high-risk nations.
Spanish officials predict the British variant of the virus could become the dominant strain of the virus in Spain by March. The Spanish government has responded by blocking passengers from South Africa, Brazil and the UK till 2 March.
Only Spanish residents, foreign nationals with Spanish residence permits and residents of Andorra are permitted to enter Spain presently.
