Health checks at Palma Airport.

Health checks at Palma Airport. recent photo | Ultima Hora

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterMajorca-International25/07/2020 13:16
TW
0

From next week travellers arriving in Galicia from areas with high levels of Covid-19 infection will have to give their contact details to the Health Authorities, regardless of whether they are residents or not and depending on where they’re coming from a PCR may be administered even if they don’t have symptoms.

A week ago the Balearic Covid-19 Alert & Monitoring Committee met to discuss how to deal with domestic travellers from Communities with a high incidence of coronavirus infection.

On Tuesday the Health Minister, Patricia Gómez, announced that the conclusions of the meeting were forwarded to the Ministry of Health, but she did not call it a ‘formal request.’

If checks on domestic travellers coming from hot zones are increased they're likely to be the same as the ones for International travellers, which include having their temperature taken with thermal cameras on arrival, completing a health questionnaire with details of where they’re staying and a visual health check, but according to Ministry of Health sources, there has been no response to the request as yet.

At the Inter-Territorial Council meeting on Thursday, the possibility of establishing an agreement with the Autonomous Communities was raised, which would involve gathering information on passengers from the 25 countries with the highest cumulative incidence of Covid-19.

Government Spokesperson, Pilar Costa said the information would be used "in the event that the final destination is the Balearics, so that passengers from non-Spanish areas with a higher incidence of infections can be traced."

France has already advised its citizens not to travel to Catalonia, and Ireland and Norway have imposed quarantine on Spanish travellers.

PCR at Origin

The College of Physicians of the Balearic Islands, or COMIB, says carrying out PCR diagnostic tests on tourists at origin is the best way to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

"The number of asymptomatic people carrying the virus is very high, which means there is no fever, so a temperature test will say that they are fine." said COMIB President, Manuala García, who insists the only way to detect people who are infected is via PCR tests.

“Asking people to take a PCR test 24-48 hours before people travel is much better than forcing them to quarantine and there is the added security of knowing that the person is healthy," she said.