The UK is prepared to allow its tourists to travel to the Balearics without restrictions from June. Boris Johnson’s government is considering including the archipelago in its green traffic light system of safe destinations if it maintains a low rate of contagion, even if it continues the amber level for the rest of Spain as a high-risk destination. The Canary Islands could also benefit from this status.
“The government will adopt this island-by-island approach wherever possible,” UK Transport Minister Robert Courts said in response to a UK parliamentary question on Tuesday.
“Changes to the national traffic light system will be reviewed and implemented every three weeks, unless the evidence means we need to act more quickly to protect public health,” Courts said in statements reported today in UK newspapers ‘The Independent’ and ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
The Balearic Islands are currently on the amber list, like the rest of the country, forcing British nationals wishing to come to the islands to observe a mandatory ten-day quarantine on their return. While in force, this restriction rules out the islands as a holiday destination for British travellers.
Yesterday the Balearic Islands had an accumulated incidence of 39.9 infections per hundred thousand inhabitants over fourteen days, a situation meriting inclusion in the green level. However, until now the United Kingdom’s approach has been to classify by country, without making distinctions by region or island, and the average incidence in Spain yesterday was 128 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, still well above the 50 positives required by the Johnson government.
The United Kingdom plans to update its traffic light system at the beginning of June and all indications are that, if the current low incidence is maintained, it will give the green light to the arrival of British tourists to the islands, to the relief of a sector that is facing a difficult summer.
On Tuesday, the president of the Government, Francina Armengol, said in Parliament that the government of Pedro Sánchez is “working” to ensure that the United Kingdom distinguishes between islands at its next update. “The prospects are good,” she stressed.