Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN’S health bosses have advised against travel to Italy amid the growing coronavirus outbreak.
The Consejo Interterritorial del Sistema Nacional de Salud (CISNS) has recommended that no one travel to the regions most affected by the virus – Lombardia, Veneto, Piamonte and Emilia Romagna.
However the government has not gone so far to issue an outright travel ban.
Following an emergency meeting with the health ministry today, the travel warning has also been extended to South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Iran, all of which, alongside China, have been labelled as ‘at risk areas’.
Travel to these areas must only take place if ‘absolutely necessary’, the health ministry advised.
It added that under new protocols, anyone who begins experiencing flu-like symptoms after returning from Italy or the other ‘at risk’ countries will be considered ‘cases to study further’.
Anyone who fits that description should contact their nearest medical centres, preferably by phone, and arrange to get tested.
Additionally, you may also be at risk if you have had ‘close contact’ with someone who tested positive or if you have cared for a patient or been less than two metres or two seats away while travelling from someone who was later found to be carrying coronavirus.
Meanwhile, all patients who have acute respiratory conditions in hospitals will undergo the coronavirus screening as a precaution.
