'Everyone is panicking': UK quarantine decision
shocks Britons in Spain
Requirement to self-isolate on return to Britain will
further damage tourism industry
Sam Jones
in Madrid
@swajones
Sun 26 Jul
2020 13.21 BSTLast modified on Sun 26 Jul 2020 21.45 BST
News that
the British government had imposed a two-week quarantine on those returning
from Spain quickly soured the Saturday night mood in the Brew Rock beach bar in
Altea, Alicante – and across the rest of the country.
Lisa
Griffin, who runs Brew Rock and an Irish pub in nearby Benidorm, was as
poleaxed by the announcement as her customers were.
“They were just
in shock,” she said. “At first, a lot of people were saying, ‘This is fake
news!’ because of all the social media stuff. They were saying, ‘Oh my God! It
can’t be true, it can’t be true!’ And then as it came in from different
sources, the reality was hitting home for everyone.”
The need
for returning Britons to self-quarantine will further hobble a tourist sector
that had already been preparing for a difficult summer in the wake of the
Covid-19 crisis.
“It’s
really, really soul-destroying,” said Griffin. “Everybody is up in arms.
Everybody cannot believe it.”
She said
people and businesses in Spain had overwhelmingly complied with the three-month
lockdown, adding the Madrid government had also put in place clear safety
measures to protect tourists and locals alike.
Spain went
into one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns nine days before the UK, and the
wearing of face masks in public places has been compulsory since 21 May.
“Now to be
hit with this is just unbelievable,” said Griffin. “Honestly, it’s just
unbelievable. A lot of businesses have slowly but surely started to open their
doors and take their staff off [temporary furloughs] and now to be faced with
this is just another knock-back.”
At Brew
Rock, which is only open at weekends, signs display the precautionary measures
people need to take and staff are rigorous about politely, but firmly,
reminding customers of the need for masks and vigilance.
“People are
understanding it because the way the Spanish government has done it has been
clear,” said Griffin.
“They
haven’t said, ‘It’s down to your opinion’, or ‘Do it if you think that’s
right’. No. What they’ve said is: ‘That’s what you do.’ And we all try to
follow it.”
The timing
of the British government’s announcement was also questioned by people at
Madrid’s Barajas airport.
“It’s
really bad because it’s just come all of a sudden, it’s not given very much
time to prepare so everyone is now panicking,” said Emily Harrison, who was
gearing up for the self-isolation as she prepared to board a flight to London.
“We had a
wedding to go to and we had plans to visit friends and family who we haven’t
seen in a very long time and now we are going to have to cancel all those
plans, so it’s really quite upsetting,” she told Reuters.
Carolyne
Lansell, who was flying to Ibiza from Madrid for a 10-day holiday, said: “We’re
quite frustrated by it to be honest, because it actually feels safer in Spain.”
That
frustration was shared by many of those arriving back at Gatwick airport on
Sunday morning.
Philip
Bradby, 55, and Marina Wilson, 40, from Bournemouth, said they had returned
from holiday early due to the shutdown of the travel corridor with Spain.
“They
basically changed the rules halfway through which puts us in a very awkward
position and lots of things to arrange,” Wilson told PA Media.
Bradby
added: “I think it’s quite poor that they did it so instantaneously.”
Jill Witte,
who was returning with her two daughters and husband, said they were all
shocked. “It didn’t look like that was coming, otherwise we wouldn’t have
gone,” she said.
Witte told
PA that the quarantine rule changes would “massively” inconvenience the family.
“The children are on school holidays so now they are not going to be allowed to
go out,” she said. “We didn’t get the option to come back before a deadline
point or anything – it happened within hours.”
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