France has advised its citizens not to go on vacation to Spain and Portugal due to growing COVID-19 cases

The French government has advised its citizens against booking holidays in Spain and Portugal due to the explosion of infections in these two countries, which are among its main tourist destinations, and is considering implementing travel restriction measures.

“Those who have not yet booked, avoid Portugal and Spain in their destinations”, declared this Thursday on France 2 the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, who specified that “it is a piece of caution, a recommendation on which I insist. “It’s better”, he added, “to stay in France or to go to another country”.

Beaune justified it because the situation there is “particularly worrying” and specified that “in the coming days there could be a reinforcement of the measures of displacement”.

He explained that he was closely monitoring developments in Portugal and Spain, where the number of cases is skyrocketing, in the Spanish region of “Catalonia in particular, where many French people go to party. Attention, great caution ”.

When asked if some countries de-escalated too quickly to save the tourist season, he replied: “I’m afraid. This is why we have been extremely clear with our European partners on the fact that a control is necessary at the entrances.

He also criticized Spain for allowing the arrival of tourists from third countries with vaccination certificates who have not obtained certification from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Next Monday morning, a Defense Council is scheduled around President Emmanuel Macron, during which the adaptation of entry rules for countries where the epidemic situation has undergone significant changes will be examined.

Before that, the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, is going to Madrid this Friday to meet his Spanish counterpart, Arancha González Laya, with whom he will discuss, among other things, the management of the pandemic.

The French government has been warning for several days that it fears the arrival of a new epidemic wave at the end of July and calls on the population to be vaccinated.

NEW WAVE

Spain was at extreme risk again, with 252 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest data proposed this Wednesday by the Ministry of Health, the national average incidence is 252.1 cases, but it is skyrocketing in young people, with 814 cases between 20 and 29 years and 729 in the 12-19 age group.

Health Minister Carolina Darias admitted at a press conference on Wednesday that the The course of the pandemic has seen a change in trend, with a 137% increase in incidence over the past eight days, booming among the unvaccinated, mainly between 12 and 29 years old, who have more than 600 cases.

Portugal for its part recorded 3,285 new cases on Wednesday, an increase of nearly 40% compared to the same day last week, bringing the total number of contaminations in Portugal, a country of just over 10 million. inhabitants, to 896,026 cases since the start of the pandemic. .

The new cases are mostly occurring among the youngest unvaccinated, so daily deaths have remained in single digits, well below levels in February, when the country was still under strict lockdown. Almost 90% of cases in Portugal are of the Delta variant.

(with information from the EFE)

KEEP READING: