The Canary Islands Government is considering introducing "additional measures" for foreign tourists coming to the archipelago to control COVID, if an increase in imported cases is detected, something which, "there is no conclusive evidence of at the moment."
This was announced at the end of today’s Governing Council meeting by the Vice President of the Canary Islands, Antonio Olivera, who also announced awareness campaigns aimed at 20 to 49-year-olds to get vaccinated as this is the age band in which there is the least covered percentage of the population, and who are the ones "closely linked" to the spikes in infections in recent days.
Olivera said that the Canary Islands have seen “very intense” tourist activity for a few months now, which is fantastic from an economic point of view, but there are big concerns about the possibility that epidemiological "bad behaviour" in the countries sending tourists, mainly the United Kingdom and Germany, which will end up having a negative impact on the archipelago.
Because of this, the Canarian Government will be "very aware" of the evolution of infections and a possible increase in imported cases to see if control measures beyond the existing ones are necessary to implement, for example, reintroducing testing to enter the islands regardless of vaccination.
Regarding the promotion of vaccination among 20 to 49-year-olds, he said that the Government has recognized that "the range of legal instruments available is not as extensive as we would like it to be", which is why “different options” are being studied for public awareness.
In view of the worsening of the figures this week, he stressed that “it is once again essential to remember that we cannot relax. The virus continues to be very present in our society”.
There is already "the first consequence", the passage of Fuerteventura from alert level 1 to 2, said Olivera, who added: "if the other islands do not change their trajectory they may find themselves in a similar situation in the coming weeks".
He also emphasized that “this is the risk scenario in which we operate. We are not alarmists, it is not the same situation as in the past, but we cannot be oblivious to the current risk or ignore the current regulations”.
