It was a long-awaited reopening. The French can now travel to Spain. Travelers hastened to meet their loved ones or, on the contrary, to go to the seaside resorts, Sunday June 21.

This is the case of Sylvia Faust, from Avignon, in the south of France, in shorts and sandals. Sunday, she was already strolling with her daughter along the beach of Roses, a Spanish seaside resort about thirty kilometers from the border.

>> Read: Madrid and Barcelona find their terraces, tourists expected in July

"We were able to cross the border last night, before midnight, they checked us in and let us in," told AFP this 43-year-old French woman who "wanted to be in Spain this first Sunday in summer, to the sun, the beach, the tapas ... ".

With the lifting of the state of alert, the Spaniards themselves were able to leave their region to find relatives they had not seen since March 14.

The government then imposed severe confinement to fight the virus, which has left 28,322 dead to date in one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.

But, from now on, nationals of the European Union and other member countries of the Schengen area and even the British can freely enter Spain, without having to observe a quarantine of 14 days.

Portugal will wait on its side on July 1 to open its land border with Spain.

At the Perthus border post, between the French region of Occitanie and Spanish Catalonia, the French police carried out sporadic checks on Tuesday morning without slowing down smooth traffic.

"New normal"

Spain thus enters what it calls "the new normal" with new rules to avoid a renewed contagion.

Everyone should continue to wear a mask in closed areas, and in the open air when it is not possible to maintain a safety distance of 1.5 m. And access to performance halls, swimming pools, beaches, hotels and restaurants remains limited to a percentage of the capacity that varies by region.

Some 600 Ministry of Health officials have been deployed to airports to screen international travelers, ask them where they live and take their temperature. Suspicious cases will be examined by a doctor.

"We remain vulnerable. We must remain on our guard and strictly follow hygiene measures," said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday.

On July 1, Spain will open its borders to all nationalities, in particular to try to save what remains of the tourist season. Tourism is the first pillar of the Spanish economy with 12% of its GDP.

With AFP

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