Tourists arriving in Palma for Easter. | Atienza

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It’s Easter and the streets of Palma are noticeably busier with thousands of tourists arriving for the holidays, despite the tight restrictions.

But there’s also an underlying fear that coronavirus infections will rocket next week if people don’t abide by the rules.

A lot of people are still furious that German tourists have been allowed to come to Mallorca on holiday, when they’re not even permitted to travel to the mainland.

On March 31, France had 4,646,014 coronavirus patients; Germany had 2,818,630; Italy had 3,561,012 and Spain had 3,275,819.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel told Germans to avoid travelling to the Balearic Islands unless absolutely necessary, but she stopped short of banning all international travel at Easter.

"We do not recommend trips abroad,” she said. “Upon return from territories at risk a mandatory quarantine will be required and from territories with another variant of the virus the measures will be even stricter."

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All foreigners must submit a negative PCR test when they land in Palma and German tourists must have a second test before they go home.

Last Thursday, more than 24,000 coronavirus cases were diagnosed in Germany and nearly 200 Covid patients died. The country’s cumulative incidence rate in the last seven days is 134.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and infections are increasing every day.

The highly contagious so-called British coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, which is significantly more contagious, is spreading rapidly in Germany and has been found in 88% of cases diagnosed.

French President, Emmanuel Macron has just ordered a nationwide lockdown, but that hasn’t stopped French people from hopping across the border to party in Madrid.

"We come to drink without a return ticket, because there’s more freedom here,” said one traveller from France.

The recent rise in infections in several European countries is stoking fears that Spain and the Balearic Islands will be back to square one by summer.

It’s time for a common European Travel Agreement to stop the spread of coronavirus and put an end to the restrictions that are bringing businesses to their knees and making everyone’s life a misery.