Germany has added the Canary Islands to its list of high-risk Covid destinations with a travel warning now in place for the whole of Spain.
The change in German travel advice came after Canary Islands authorities registered a consistently high number of new cases of Covid-19 each day last week.
Germany’s national institute for infectious diseases, the Robert Koch Institute, added the Islands to its list of high-risk regions on September 2 due to the infection rate.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a rebound in new cases to more than 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in the seven days was the deciding factor.
Germany issued a travel warning for parts of Spain at the end of July, advising against travel to Catalonia, Aragon and Navarre.
Madrid and the Basque Country were subsequently added and the warning extended to the whole of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands on August 14, triggering wholesale cancellations by tour operators. However, the Canary Islands were left out of the August 14 travel advice.
Germany also scrapped its free Covid tests for travellers arriving from ‘high risk’ countries this week and moved to a “strengthened quarantine regime” after authorities said the tests on travellers had led to pressure on testing facilities.
Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed the tougher measures with German state leaders last week amid widespread criticism of inconsistent practices across the country’s 16 states.
Germany now requires travellers returning from high-risk areas including Spain, France, Belgium and Croatia to self-isolate for 14 days, although it allows the isolation period to be reduced by several days if the traveller subsequently pays for a test which proves negative.
The German foreign ministry has a warning in place against travel to more than 160 countries.
This is due to expire on September 14 but a government spokeswoman warned last week: “The situation will not relax sufficiently by mid-September to lift the worldwide travel warning.”