Isha Sesay
THE Balearic Islands is set to be declared a ‘risk zone’ for travel by Germany.
The risk upgrade comes as the number of coronavirus infections in the region has now exceeded the threshold set by the German government.
The criteria to enter is 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days.
According to the Ministry of Health, yesterday, the Balearic Islands went over that number with 55 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Currently, the region has a total of 846 cases, with 222 people being diagnosed just over the weekend.
This represents an increase of 159% in one week.
Being declared a ‘risk zone’ would mean that Germans holidaying in the Balearics would need to quarantine for 14-days upon their return home.
The only way an individual would be able to bypass this period of isolation would be to take an epidemiological test showing a negative COVID-19 result.
If confirmed, the Balearic Islands would join Catalonia, Aragon and Navarra, three regions in Spain already declared as ‘high risk.’
The upgrade would likely spell disaster for the Balearic tourism sector since Germans present its largest international market.
As in the case of the UK quarantine, Germans may be put off travelling to the region, as seen with a huge proportion of Britons.
The ground-breaking move by the British government was branded disastrous by Balearic officials and resulted in over 60% of holidays in the region being cancelled by Brits.
As well as fears over contracting the virus, a 14-day quarantine is difficult for many to undertake unless they work from home.
