Stingychips

Common sense. Spain has plenty of Pakistani and Indian people coming back and forth. Massive communities of Indians live in Spain. Even when the UK banned flights from India the ones that could just came to Spain first. Stayed in Spain a little while then went on to the UK. And on my plane people tested positive for covid as I had a message from NHS track and trace.

VEDShappy

I agree, it is common sense.
However, it's neither proof nor evidence, I don't believe that either are available when dealing with this, or other, plagues. It's about perception and interpretation. What I perceive to be obvious when looking at a set of figures might not be so obvious given your experience.
I also agree that it's good to see things opening up again.

SanNico

People are too focussed on pointing a finger, hence the WHO introduced the naming convention. The names of the variants have nothing to do with where they originated, but where they were first detected. Delta was first detected in India, Alpha in the UK. Alpha was prevalent in New York, despite a travel ban between the US and UK. That would indicate that it was already present but undetected in the US until later. Delta was first detected in India and prevalent in both India in the UK, that doesn't mean it was spread by travelers from India. Unlikely it was spread by Pakistanis since the first deteced Delta case there was at the end of May, carried by a Thai tourist. The most prevalent variant in Pakistan is the Alpha variant.

Chipmonk

Now that Portugal have decided to require all UK arrivals to have proof of double vaccination it is inevitable that Spain is going to need to tighten up things with regard to UK arrivals. Even the authorities on the Baleares are asking for tighter controls!!. Problem will be getting the UK to allow recciprocal agreements for arrivals in UK. If not the situation could be people from Spain travelling to uk having to quarantine after having spent 4 hours on a plane with UK families with unvaccinated children. There is no logic to it

Stingychips

So many people have had both vaccinations in the uk now. By august even 18 years olds will have. UK arrivals will start to flock to the Balearics this week. Then I’d imagine shortly after it will be mainland Spain.

Stingychips

The WHO don’t have the minerals to point the finger at the real culprit. They are in China’s pocket. The Chinese knew a long time before they announced it that the virus was spreading human to human. They just wanted to make sure the planet was infected before they did so it didn’t put them at a disadvantage. Typical communism.

Chipmonk

That is true but the issue is whether the UK will accept the European vaccination documents for non UK residents.

Stingychips

I’d imagine so once people have had both their vaccines. It won’t be long until Spain is on the green list so can’t see them being to fussed.

Chipmonk

I have to disagree with that. Cases are now increasing in Spain and the Delta variant is spreading fast. I saw on today's news that they are worried about the 60-70 age group who are quite a vulnerable group but will probably be the last to be fully vaccinated due to 12-16 week wait. The macrorebote in Mallorca has spread fast in 7 communities with over 2.000 in Madrid isolating and a fear it has entered the nursing homes. I dont think the government could sanction lifting from amber to green if figures are worse than 2 months ago

Chipmonk

Lo and behold. Just annouced on spanish news : all arrivals from uk need proof of double vaccination or a PCR.

SanNico

It's going to be a tricky one. They predict Delta will be prevalent in Spain mid July so restricting people from Delta prevalent areas would be the common sense approach. Due to the slow sequencing in Spain it's probably already the dominant variant. However, Spain are catching up with the vaccinations fast as more and more Janssen vaccines are being administered. Working the numbers, Spain should hit the green list mid August but could prevent UK travellers entering. Friends my age in the UK had their first does a long time ago and are waiting for their second dose. On Thursday I'll be fully vaccinated. A real case of the tortoise and the hare.

Chipmonk

https://elpais.com/sociedad/2021-06-...-el-mundo.html

Here is the breaking news. Spain's tourist industry are going to be really angry

calman014

The EU wide vaccination certificate becomes available on 1 July and is really no different to the UK one in many respects. The fact is, the Delta and other new variants are already in EU anyway. Sooner or later there has to be a way to move on and just accept that Covid is there permanently now. There will probably be another peak lasting from July well into the autumn. France and Germany are not exactly shining examples of Vaccine uptake or planning anyway. Spain's approach is a good one with a vaccine certificate supported by testing. At least they can keep the economy rolling.

Stingychips

Can’t see them getting that upset about having to do a PCR test. The PCR test is probably easier to prove atm than the vaccines.

Stingychips

There are still idiots out there that think if you self isolate for the next ten million years they will be ok. It was pretty obvious that the virus would continue to mutate and potentially evade vaccines. People just have to man up and accept life for what it is. You die in the end no matter how long you isolate for anyway.