Anger among British tourists over quarantine demand: "Panic"

As of today, Sunday, all travelers arriving in the UK from Spain must be quarantined for two weeks.

The announcement came at short notice on Saturday after the government noticed a sudden increase in the spread of infection in Catalonia and Galicia, among other places.

- We can not apologize for that. We must be able to take swift, decisive action, says Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, according to Sky News.

However, the understanding among the British who holiday in Spain is moderate.

Tourist Pippa Stickler, who will fly home on Monday, tells Sky News that neither she nor her parties have the opportunity to take 14 days off from work.

- None of us can work from home and my partner has only three days holiday left so there will be unpaid leave in that case.

- This is terrible news that comes at the very last minute. They should have warned about this long before.

The tour operator TUI announced after the announcement that it is canceling all trips from the UK to Spain, reports Reuters.

- Not much time has been given for preparations, so now everyone is panicking, says Madrid traveler Emily Harrison from Essex to the news agency.

Protests are also coming from Spain. The measure is a severe blow to the country, which is in great need of the tourism industry after a closed spring.

The Spanish government is now trying to persuade the United Kingdom to exclude the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands from the quarantine requirement and states that the spread of the disease in the country is under control.

- Spain is safe to stay in. It is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists, says Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya. 

Norway has also introduced a quarantine for Spanish travelers and France advises its citizens not to travel to Catalonia.

The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently has no plans to reintroduce dissuasion from travel to Spain.

- We review our decisions every 14 days and the next opportunity is June 29, but as far as I know it is not relevant with such a dissuasion, says Catarina Axelsson at the Foreign Ministry's press service.

Spain has been hit hard by the coronavirus. The official death toll is 28,432, but a compilation by the newspaper El País shows that the figure can be as much as 60 percent higher.