Latest update to this report: Spain changes Covid-19 test requirements for travellers
Also read: Coronavirus in Spain figures (4 Jan)
Tourists and travellers arriving in Spain from ‘high-risk’ countries from Monday 23 November without a negative PCR test, may be fined up to €6,000 in addition to having to undergo a rapid test as a measure to guarantee safe mobility, the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya has said.
‘They are serious fines, dissuasive fines,’ she also stressed, in statements to Antena 3 when asked about the new measures recently announced by the Ministry of Health. You can also read our full report here: Spain to require visitors from high-risk countries to present negative PCR tests.
The new measure is being introduced in addition to the health controls already performed on all inbound passengers at ports and airports in Spain – specifically temperature controls and visual checks.
The current ‘Health Control Form’, which all passengers must fill in before entering Spain, will now include a question regarding whether they can produce a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to their arrival. Proof of this test result may be requested from passengers at any time. The document must be original, drafted in Spanish or English, and may be submitted on paper or in an electronic format.
According to the Spanish government’s website, ‘If the form has not been filled in online, using the code generated on the website www.spth.gob.es [also click here for further information], or the Spain Travel Health-SpTH app, it may be presented on paper before departure. In this case, it must be accompanied by the original document certifying the diagnostic test.’
Passengers whose temperature, visual or documentary checks indicate that they could be suffering from Covid-19 will then also be required to undergo a diagnostic test taken at the airport or port on their arrival in Spain.
González Laya also said that international mobility has only meant ‘0.08% of Covid-19 imports’ – adding that out of the 5,200,000 travellers who have entered Spain since July, ‘barely 4,800 have tested positive’.
‘Looking at the numbers this is not a problem,’ she said, ‘but we have to make sure it is not in the future.’ She insisted that the new measure aims to ‘create trust’ and be able to ‘gradually open up spaces for mobility’ that are safe.
For visitors arriving from EU countries or from those within the Schengen area, the criteria for a country of high risk will be determined by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The ECDC publishes weekly maps with the current risk status of each country using a traffic light system of green, orange or red, as determined by the 14-day incidence and positivity rates of Covid-19.
For all other countries, the reference to evaluate risk will be 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, according to criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Click here for all previous reports on: Coronavirus in Spain
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1 comment
This PCR test is so expensive how can families be with there loved ones if they can’t leave Spain , I haven’t seen my family for over a year surely Spain can come to some agreement with other countries over the price or the testing