The Canary Islands Government is not giving up its quest to have British holidaymakers this summer, and have asked the UK Government for confirmation that they will assess the health data of the Islands independently from the mainland Spain, as there are regions with worse epidemiological data, which is penalising the archipelago.
The president, Angel Victor Torres, attributes the decision of the UK to continue demanding a quarantine upon their return home, to the epidemiological data of the whole country. Speaking to journalists during his visit to the facilities of the logistics base of the World Food Program (WFP) in Puerto de la Luz and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria yesterday, Torres said he appreciates that Spain now allows travellers to enter the country with an antigen test, a much cheaper diagnostic test than a PCR for which the Canary Islands chose long ago for the health control of domestic flights.
He said: “The fact that travellers can access Spain with this cheaper test or if they already have been vaccinated is essential. I am very happy as we have fought this since May last year. We were among those who requested in the Conference of Presidents, that there be a shared regulation in the EU and the Schengen area. Unfortunately, the second wave of the virus came and changed everything.”
In addition, he stressed that the Canary Islands were "bold" and approved a tourist decree so that antigen tests could be used to stay in hotels, so he insisted that it is "magnificent news for tourism and the economy" that people arriving from abroad, i.e. outside of the EU or UK, can now access Spain more easily.
This change in requirements by the Minister of Health for Spain, Carolina Darias, will be decreed in the BOE on Saturday and means from next week that antigen tests are acceptable to enter Spain if you haven’t been fully vaccinated.
From now on, travellers who prove to be immunized with the complete schedule of the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines, authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac-Coronavac will be able to enter Spain. This is stated in the order drawn up by the Ministries of Health and the Interior, in charge of health and border control.
