Coronavirus: Spain insists country is safe as two British ministers on holiday are caught out by sudden quarantine rule

Australia records largest number of deaths in one day

Government's handling of Spain quarantine 'shambolic', says Jonathan Ashworth

Spain‘s foreign minister has insisted the country is safe after the UK’s sudden imposition of a mandatory two-week quarantine for travellers, and said that any retaliatory measure would be taken “on the basis of epidemiological data”, adding: “This is not a political exercise.”

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab defended the move, described by Labour as “shambolic”, which also caught out two government ministers as they holidayed in Spain – transport secretary Grant Shapps and the minister for London, Paul Scully.

It came as North Korea identified what is believed to be its first case of Covid-19, in a defector who returned after three years, state news agency KCNA reported.

Australia recorded its largest number of deaths in one day, with all 10 taking place in Victoria, which suffered its second-highest tally of new cases despite a lockdown in Melbourne.

Please see below for how the day's events unfolded:

[26 July 2020 12:52 · Andy Gregory]

Dominic Raab to forego foreign holiday as two ministers caught out by Spain quarantine

Both the transport secretary Grant Shapps and minister for London, Paul Scully, aare currently holidaying in Spain and Lanzarote respectively and will have to self-isolate for 14 days on their return, after the UK's most popular holiday destination was struck off the safe list of travel destinations.

The foreign secretay told Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday there was an "element of uncertainty this summer if people go abroad" and that he had instead chosen to stay put.

"I'm not going to tell people what they should and shouldn't do, they should follow the advice, I'm going to be staying at home this summer," he said. "We've got lots on, so that's a personal decision really."

[26 July 2020 12:59 · Andy Gregory]

Vietnam reports two more locally transmitted infections

The new cases bring the total number of infections to 420, and include a 17-year-old boy in the central province of Quang Ngai and a 71-year-old woman in Danang city, the government said in a statement. There have been no known deaths from Covid-19.

[26 July 2020 13:15 · Andy Gregory]

'Everyone is now panicking': Travellers facing quarantine hit out at government

Zeta Hill, a 35-year-old teacher from Essex, has been on holiday in Majorca for 12 days and is due to fly back with husband Stuart, 51, on Tuesday.

She said there was "no logic" to the decision to include the Balearic Islands in the announcement, telling the Press Association: "We are not on mainland Spain and cases on the islands have been really low. We haven't gone near the mainland. We feel so safe here."

Philip Bradby, 55, and Marina Wilson, 40, from Bournemouth, said at Gatwick Airport on Sunday morning that they had returned from their holiday in Barcelona early due to the shut down of the travel corridor with Spain. "I think it's quite poor that they did it so instantaneously," Mr Bradby said.

Jill Witte, 53, arriving back in the country with her two daughters and husband, said the quarantine rule changes would "massively" inconvenience her family, saying: "We were shocked, it didn't look like that was coming, otherwise we wouldn't have gone."

"It ruins plans for everybody," Emily Harrison, from Essex, told Reuters as she prepared to fly back home from Madrid's Barajas airport. "Everyone is now panicking."

[26 July 2020 13:30 · Andy Gregory]

Test and trace chief says testing Spanish arrivals will not circumvent need for travellers to self-isolateSpeaking to Times Radio, Baroness Dido Harding said: "Unfortunately, although we'd love it to be true that if you have a test today, we can be confident in saying you are not infectious and about to come down with disease, that's not the way the virus works. A test today is only as good as saying you haven't got the test today.

"The incubation period can be quite a long time, which is why if you've been in a very high-risk environment - and right now the judgment of our scientists and clinicians is that Spain is a high-risk environment - we need you to isolate for 14 days because you might test negative today and test positive tomorrow or the next day, right up to the end of that 14-day period."

[26 July 2020 13:45 · Andy Gregory]

Spain has pandemic under control, foreign ministry says

After the UK imposed a 14-day quarantine on all travellers returning from the Mediterranean country in response to a surge in new cases, Spain's health ministry insisted that the pandemic is under control.

Hospitals are coping well with the increase in infections and more than half of new cases are asymptomatic, the ministry said, adding that outbreaks in Catalonia and Aragon should soon be brought under control.

[26 July 2020 14:01 · Andy Gregory]

Austrian resort town introduces curfews and closers to tackle outbreak

A popular resort town in Austria has ordered restaurants and clubs to close early and urged people to avoid going out as it grapples with a new outbreak of the coronavirus.

The dpa news agency reported Sunday that hundreds of people have already been tested in the town of St. Wolfgang, east of Salzburg, after the outbreak was first detected on Friday. At least 44 of those have tested positive, at least 26 whom are interns working in the tourism industry, Austria's Kurier newspaper reported.

They're thought to have become infected while partying in the town's bars, two of which have now been temporarily closed to prevent further spread. All have been ordered to close no later than 11 p.m. until further notice, the Kurier reported.

Austria had relaxed many coronavirus restrictions in recent weeks, but has seen a rise in the number of infections lately. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz last week announced that the country was reintroducing mandatory face masks again in supermarkets, smaller grocery stores, post offices and banks.

In an unrelated outbreak across the border, a large farm in the German state of Bavaria has been put under quarantine after 174 farmhands tested positive. Authorities say the outbreak in Mamming is not believed to have spread outside the farm.

Reuters

[26 July 2020 14:15 · Andy Gregory]

Government 'cant guarantee' any countires won't be hit with quarantine, Raab says

 Asked whether other countries could be removed from the government's "safe list", the foreign secretary told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "As we've found with Spain, we can't give a guarantee.

"All we can say is we've got this Joint Biosecurity Centre, we monitor the risk in real time, we take decisive swift action and so there is an element of uncertainty this summer if people go abroad.

"I'm not going to tell people what they should and shouldn't do, they should follow the advice, I'm going to be staying at home this summer."

[26 July 2020 14:22 · Andy Gregory]

'This is not a political exercise,' Spanish foreign minister says of UK quarantine rules

 Spain's foreign minister has refused to comment on whether the country will now start imposing quarantine rules on people coming from the UK, saying "this is not a political exercise".

"This is not a tit-for-tat exercise, we will take measures on the basis of epidemiological data," Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters. "If we think that in any country in Europe the epidemiological data requires stricter measures on our side, we will do this - this is not a political exercise, this is not a diplomatic exercise.

"This is an exercise to protect the health and safety of our citizens - Spaniards as well as tourists who love coming to Spain and whom we hope will continue coming to Spain, because Spain is a safe country."

[26 July 2020 14:30 · Andy Gregory]

One of the passengers on a flight touching down at Gatwick at 9am from Barcelona, Johnny Pach, told The Independent's travel correspondent Simon Calder: “We had a lovely holiday, really relaxing, and it’s all gone out the window now because we’re just going to be stuck at home.

“I’ve got this beautiful tan – I’m not going to be able to show it off to my family or anything like that. We’re supposed to go to Center Parcs next week for a lovely family occasion, and now that’s out the window.

“I’m really distressed, I feel really negative and anxious coming out of Gatwick now, because this isn’t what we had planned. What can you do? I’m just going to watch Netflix at home with the fiancee. I don’t know how we’re going to go to Tesco, but we’ll figure it out.”

A passenger named Sharon had been out in Spain seeing family for only two days, but must now self-isolate for two weeks. 

“When I booked my trip, I checked the government advice and it said that Spain was OK to go to," she said. “An amber warning would have been useful. If I’d known this was going to happen, I would have re-evaluated going on my trip. It’s impacting on the rest of my summer.

“Especially after the lockdown and things starting to re-open, it’s a little disappointing to have to sit inside."

[26 July 2020 14:42 · Andy Gregory]

Trump repeats lie that Nancy Pelosi 'danced in the streets of Chinatown' at start of pandemic as he touts China travel ban

China has officially recognised fewer than 86,000 cases and 4,653 deaths, while the US has identified 4.25 million cases and nearly 150,000 deaths.