COVID-19

The Economy and Digital Transformation Ministry launched the first stage of a pilot programme yesterday to test an app designed to warn users if they are at risk of contracting Covid-19. The app, called Radar Covid, will work on Android and iOS cellphones, and has been sent to Google and Apple so that it can be officially validated and included in their respective stores. The test run of Radar Covid […]

Spanish virologists believe they may have found traces of COVID-19 in a sample of waste water collected in Barcelona in March of last year. If that is proven to be the case, it would mean the discovery was made nine months before the coronavirus was first identified in China. Dr Joan Ramon Villalbi of the Spanish Society for Public Health and Sanitary Administration said it is a single sample, however, […]

Travel companies say holiday bookings have "exploded" after the UK government announced current restrictions will be eased. Ministers said from 6 July, blanket restrictions on non-essential overseas travel will be relaxed in the UK. Brits will be allowed to travel to certain European countries without having to spend 14 days in quarantine upon their return. A spokesperson for TUI said the move was a "hugely positive step" with bookings already […]

The World Health Organisation (WHO)‘s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, has praised Spain and several other countries for responding quickly to new coronavirus outbreaks, but warned that the continent is experiencing a resurgence in cases as restrictions are lifted. Spain, which lifted its state of alarm on Sunday, has just reported the highest number of new daily infections in three weeks, and health experts are expressing concern about the […]

Coronavirus did not get in the way of one Spanish industry, paper and loo roll. The country’s paper manufacturing sector, including toilet paper, has grew by 1.1% in the first four months of 2020, despite COVID-19. The production of toilet and sanitary paper grew by 1.6% alone, with an 11.4% increase in April.

The island of La Gomera in the Canaries is to be the test bed for a new national smartphone app that will track infections. Tests are to run from tomorrow until the 16th July which will simulate a pandemic on the island to evaluate it’s systems. The cabinet approved the contract with app developer Indra to design, develop and evaluate the pilot test for the app, which is hoped will […]

Murcia International Airport have confirmed they will resume normal operations at Corvera from 1 July, coinciding with the re-opening of borders and an increase in air traffic demand. The Ministry of Development and Infrastructure also announced that the regional executive has requested a reduction in airport charges by operator AENA to encourage airlines back to the regional airport after the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the restrictions of the state of alarm, […]

Passengers on a hundred or so flights landed in Spain from Schengen-area countries yesterday, with 225 routes restarting, a low number compared to a normal June. El Prat airport in Barcelona was operating at 5% of capacity, the majority of arrivals there were foreigners who work in Spain and left the country during lockdown. The lifting of the state of alarm, which means that we can move freely across the […]

A day after Spain entered the “new normality” following a prolonged coronavirus deescalation process, a small area in the northeast of the country has taken several steps back due to fresh outbreaks of the virus. The 67,700 residents of three areas in the region of Aragón are back in Phase 2 of the deescalation plan after having moved through a four-stage process out of one of the world’s strictest confinements. […]