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‘A ridiculous lack of control’: Madrid slams Spanish govt for allowing Barajas travellers in with positive PCR tests

A top Madrid health official has accused Spain's national government of negligence for reportedly being aware that less than 10 percent of Covid tests are being carried out on inbound travellers at the Spanish capital's airport, as well as allowing in people who have tested positive for Covid-19.

Published: 28 May 2021 18:44 CEST
Madrid Barajas Airport
Image: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP

Antonio Zapatero, Deputy Minister of Public Health and head of the COVID-19 Plan for the Madrid region, has said Spain’s central government is “aware” that travellers with positive PCR tests are arriving at Barajas Airport, accusing La Moncloa of “not doing their jobs properly” with regards to border control, according to a report in online daily 20 Minutos.

“From January until now (late May 2021) tests have only been carried out on 7.4 percent of travellers coming into Barajas. It is a ridiculous figure that showcases the lack of real control,” Zapatero said during a press conference.

Zapatero explained that during the weekend of May 14th to 16th, there were 21 cases of Covid-19 at Barajas Airport. He explained that those cases hailed from countries such as Colombia, the Dominican Republic, France, Turkey, and Morocco, and were later admitted to the Zendal Hospital in the capital. According to Zapatero, at least three of these people had positive PCR tests.

Spain’s Ministry of Health has indicated that these cases were detected when carrying out random documentation checks.

“I do not understand how it is possible to let people board with positive PCR tests,” said Madrid’s Deputy Minister of Public Health.

When asked if national health authorities had communicated any information regarding these cases of positive PCR tests to them, Zapatero replied that “they have not given us any explanation”.

According to the report by 20Minutos, the Madrid government has detected a total of 800 imported coronavirus cases in health centres and hospitals that have entered through Barajas Airport.

Zapatero has also indicated that two of these imported cases were of the Indian variant. One of these two cases is a Spanish citizen residing in India who was transferred to Spain on a special medical plane and the other is a foreign tourist.

“The Indian variant is more worrying, because of what we’re seeing in the United Kingdom currently,” continued Zapatero.

“In the week of May 21st to 27th, the number of cases has increased by 20 percent and the number of deaths has increased by 14 percent.

“This mutation may complicate the definitive control of the pandemic. In the United Kingdom, there is an increase in cases and hospitalisations in young, unvaccinated people too,” he concluded.

Countries around Europe are tightening travel restrictions with the UK because of the spread of the so-called Indian variant of Covid-19. 

Spain on the other hand has removed all restrictions for British tourists. From May 24th, UK holidaymakers can visit Spain without the need to quarantine or present a negative PCR test result. They will however need to fill in a health control form. 

Spain will also allow all vaccinated travellers – regardless of their country of origin – to visit the country from June 7th.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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