Starting Wednesday, December 1st, 2021, only fully vaccinated tourists from the UK will be allowed to visit Spain. The decision comes as countries tighten rules to help protect their citizens amid concern over the new Omicron coronavirus variant. Until now, United Kingdom citizens could enter Spain by simply showing that they had a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within 72 hours before arriving in the country.
The change in the rules comes over fears that a new variant of the coronavirus named by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “Omicron” poses an extreme risk. The big concern is that this new variant, unlike Delta, is far more dangerous as it has ten mutations instead of Delta’s two. The worry is that the vaccines we have developed could prove to be ineffective.
Omicron is already in Europe
After being discovered in South Africa, people infected with the Omicron variant have been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Despite a quick call to action by global governments, the fear amongst epidemiologists is that it may now be too late to stop Omicron from running riot.
Already facing a sharp increase in the number of people becoming infected with COVID-19 European leaders are busy trying to strike a balance between increasing preventive measures and preventing panic. In a bulletin issued by Spain that was carried in the Independent, it says:
“The appearance of new variants … obliges an increase in restrictions regarding people from the UK and Northern Ireland.”
When issuing the bulletin, the Spanish government was keen to stress that the new rule would not impact the 300,000 United Kingdom citizens who have permanent residency status in the country.
Israel is banning foreigners for 14 days
Other countries are also tightening entry rules. Switzerland has imposed a ten-day quarantine on travelers from the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt, and Malawi. Isreal, meanwhile, has said it is going to ban all foreigners from entering the country for 14 days in response to the new variant. When speaking about Israel’s drastic measures, Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said:
“Our working hypotheses are that the variant is already in nearly every country and that the vaccine is effective, although we don’t yet know to what degree.”
The move to ban all foreigners from entering Israel comes after the country already banned travelers from Africa on Friday night. No foreigners will be allowed in from Monday, and any Israeli citizens returning from overseas must quarantine.
It may already be too late
When discussing countries imposing travel bans, many health officials fear that it may already be too late, as there is no knowing how long Omicron had been circulating before scientists in South Africa raised the alarm. The United Kingdom has also ramped up border controls, with all international arrivals from next weeks required to take Day 2 PCR tests and quarantine until the result.
Regarding Omicron, the verdict is still out on how effective the current vaccines will be. If it turns out that they offer little or no protection, we could be in for a challenging winter.
What do you think about the new travel restrictions? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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