As the world begins to panic once more about the spread of a new variant of our favourite coronavirus, COVID-19, new rules have been put in place to restrict travel and personal freedoms. Although, here in Spain no changes have been reintroduced yet to affect the opening hours and capacities of public places, there are very important new rules that will be coming into force and will affect visitors to the islands before Christmas.
COVID-19 cases on the Balearic Islands are beginning to rise again and the 14-day incidence per 100K population has already reached 133 in the past 7 days. Significantly, the R number of the infection rate is now above 1, meaning the disease may begin to spread exponentially once again. We currently stand at Level 1 of the Balearic government’s state of alert but, if cases continue to rise, this may be increased to Level 2 soon, potentially even by this weekend.
New travel rules from the UK
The Spanish government have reciprocated to new travel restrictions imposed by the UK government meaning that, from Wednesday 1 December, only fully vaccinated travellers from the UK, over the age of 12, will be admitted, unless they are Spanish citizens or resident card holders.
All arrivals to Spain from the UK (excluding children under the age of 12 years old) must present on entry proof of being fully vaccinated (with both doses of a two-dose vaccine or one dose of a one-dose vaccine) at least 14 days prior to arrival in Spain, with a vaccine authorised by the European Medicines Agency or by the World Health Organisation.
All passengers (including children under 12 years old) travelling by air or sea must complete and sign an online Health Control Form no more than 48 hours prior to travel.
Spain will accept the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination record. If you are travelling with a printed PDF proof of vaccination status, it must date from 1 November to ensure that the certificate can be scanned successfully. Your NHS appointment card from vaccination centres is not designed to be used as proof of vaccination and should not be used to demonstrate your vaccine status.
Certificates of recovery - a medical document certifying that you have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 6 months prior to travel - is NOT currently accepted for arrivals from the UK.
Covid passports
New proposals adopted by the Balearic Government for the imposition of covid passports to enter public places and hospitality venues with interior capacities over 50 (including bars, restaurants, and night clubs), come into effect from Saturday 4 December. So be prepared to carry yours with you.
Until January 24, when the decision will be reviewed, it will be necessary to certify that you have the full vaccination schedule in place or that you have already passed the disease. If not, a negative PCR should be taken less than 72 hours before or an antigen test 48 hours before accessing one of these spaces.
Business owners will be responsible for checking the documents or scanning them with the help of the government database.
Hopefully, this is just a cautious reaction to the appearance of a new variant that may yet prove benign. However, it is also possible that this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of new restrictions that may come back into force. Watch this space for the latest information…