Spain urges tourists to return from July as lockdown eases
Madrid, Barcelona slowly emerge from lockdown; French PM pledges ‘significant’ pay hikes for health workers; students in Australian states returned to school as numbers of virus cases fall
Spain urged foreign holidaymakers on Monday to return from July as one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns eased, though tourism businesses were sceptical about salvaging the summer season.
The world’s second-most visited nation closed its doors and beaches in March to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, later imposing a two-week quarantine on overseas visitors. But that requirement will be lifted from July 1, a government statement said. “The worst is behind us,” Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya tweeted with emojis of a bikini, sunglasses and a suitcase.
“In July we will gradually open Spain to international tourists, lift the quarantine, ensure the highest standards of health safety. We look forward 2 welcoming you!”
Also during the day, Spain’s government revised downward the country’s death toll from the coronavirus by nearly 2,000, bringing the total number of deaths recorded to 26,834. A new system of gathering data had allowed them to identify cases that were counted twice and exclude deaths wrongly attributed to the virus, said Fernando Simon, the health ministry’s emergencies coordinator. “A variation of 1,900, that’s a lot,” he added. “We are trying to check that it’s correct, but these are the figures that we have at the moment.”
Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 92 on Monday, against 50 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases dropped to just 300 from 531 on Sunday.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Monday that health workers would soon get hefty pay increases as part of an overhaul of France’s hospital system in response to the coronavirus crisis.
“I can say without any ambiguity, the increase will be significant,” Philippe said while kicking off consultations with doctors and nurses that are expected to conclude in July.
Health workers have long complained about low salaries and insufficient staff at French hospitals, leading to a series of strikes over the past year to demand funding increases.
Spain normally draws 80 million people a year, with tourism accounting for over 12% of gross domestic product and an even bigger share of jobs, so the summer season is crucial to possibilities of mitigating a looming recession.
Bars and restaurants in Madrid and Barcelona were allowed to open outside spaces at half capacity from Monday, but many stayed closed as owners weighed the value of catering to just a few.
As gyms and swimming pools reopened in Germany, Iceland, Italy and Spain, slowing infection rates in Greece allowed restaurants to resume business a week ahead of schedule — but only for outdoor service.
“I’m thrilled to break the isolation of recent months and reconnect with friends,” said pensioner Giorgos Karavatsanis.
“The cafe in Greece has a social dimension, it’s where the heart of the district beats.” But not all the news from Europe was encouraging. Sweden, which has gained international attention for not enforcing stay-at-home measures, saw its COVID-19 death toll pass 4,000, a much higher figure than its neighbours.
And Dutch officials announced a second worker may have been infected at a mink farm before it was known that the animals were carrying the virus.
Students in two more Australian states returned to school full-time on Monday as numbers of COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the country fall.
New South Wales and Queensland states joined the less populous Western Australia and South Australia states and the Northern Territory in resuming face-to-face learning instead of studying from home online.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said students and teachers had to observe one key message: Stay home if sick.
“We’re not out of the woods yet. We have to take each day as it comes, each week as it comes and we keep our fingers crossed that Queenslanders will continue to flatten that curve,” Palaszczuk told reporters.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said early indications were that the rate of children missing school on Monday was slightly higher than usual. That might reflect the message to keep children at home if they are unwell.