The U.K. government's recommendation against all but essential travel to the whole of Spain means that all travellers arriving in Britain from that country will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
"Let's be absolutely clear about what's happening in Europe, amongst some of our European friends. I'm afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic," Johnson said. But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the new recommendation "a mistake," saying that the upsurge in new COVID-19 cases is only focused in the regions of Catalonia and Aragon and is much less severe than the number of cases reported in the U.K. itself.
Spain is still in talks with the British government, "trying to find a solution which meets epidemiological criteria," Ayala told a press conference in Athens during an official visit to Greece Tuesday. Britain's travel advice comes on the heels of similar decisions by other European governments, including Norway, which ordered a 10-day quarantine for people returning from the entire Iberian peninsula, and France, which urged its citizens not to visit Catalonia.