Spain will require international travellers from ‘risk countries’ to have a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival in Spain in order to enter the country.
The UK’s largest outbound market is implementing its new testing requirements from November 23. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all international travel as part of lockdown measures in place until December 2.
The announcement follows confirmation that the Canary Islands – which were granted a travel corridor two weeks before England went into a second lockdown – will accept both PCR and antigen tests, which are cheaper as they do not need to be sent to a lab.
The Canary Islands was promoting the reduced cost of antigen tests on Thursday, noting they were available on the island for €10 at some hotels. The Canary Islands tourist board’s communication representatives posted a video demonstrating how the antigen tests work, claiming they can be completed in 15 minutes.
Arrivals to Spain will continue to be subject to temperature checks and visual checks and if they are showing signs of potential Covid infection, they will be asked to prove their result and may be required to take an additional diagnostic test at the arrival airport.
The testing rules apply to European Union countries and those in the Schengen free movement area, Spain’s health ministry confirmed.
Risk countries will be determined by their rate of Covid infection per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, in line with the European Center for Prevention and Disease Control (ECDC) recommendations.
Travel agencies, tour operators and air or maritime transport companies and any other agent that sells tickets must inform passengers of the obligation to have a PCR with a negative result in order to travel, the ministry said.
“This new measure complies with the EU Recommendation 2020/1475, which seeks to end the disparity in the health control models implemented by the countries of the European Union,” the ministry said in a statement.
