RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Spain will lift restrictions on flights from Brazil and South Africa, interrupted since February, but will impose a ten-day quarantine on arriving travelers as of August 3, according to a decree published Saturday (31) in the official gazette.
From that day, travelers coming from these two countries who have a complete vaccination certificate, a negative test, or a recent covid-19 contagion test will be able to enter Spain. Still, they will have to observe a period of self-isolation.
Brazil and South Africa thus join the list of countries under quarantine since July 27, which also includes Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, and Namibia. Although they are no longer subject to restrictions as severe as a few months ago, both countries continue to be classified as “high risk”, the decree specifies.
Since February, Spain has prohibited the arrival of flights from Brazil and South Africa, except for Spanish and Andorran citizens, foreign residents of Spain and Andorra, or passengers in international transit to a country outside the Schengen area with a stopover of fewer than 24 hours (obliged to remain at the airport).
Spain has been suffering a new wave of covid cases for several weeks (687 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, according to Friday’s data), and several regions have reinstated restrictions.
In any case, these cases are less serious than during previous waves thanks to the progress of the vaccination campaign: about 57% of the Spanish population is fully vaccinated, and 67% received at least one dose, according to the latest official figures.