Spain and Portugal Extend Border Controls Until May 3
Spain and Portugal have again prolonged their border controls, this time until at least May 3, in an effort to stop the further spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Until May 3, only persons who have justified cause will be permitted to enter the country, AtoZSerwisPlus.Pt reports.
All persons who need to cross the border between the two nations will be permitted to do so only at specific border checkpoints and during the opening hours established.
“The epidemiological situation in Spain and Portugal suggests that we should keep the preventive measures restricting mobility between both territories in place,” Spain’s official government bulletin clarifies.
The statement pointed out that Spanish citizens and their spouses, partner or children are among people permitted to cross the border if they are travelling to meet with any of these family members.
“All caution is too little,” Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa pointed out regarding the border closure.
However, Portugal’s Government on Thursday announced that it approved the rules for its third stage of the deconfinement plan that is set to last until May 3, meaning that the reopening of the border with Spain could happen soon.
Land Border Controls Have Been in Place Since February 2021
Once the Coronavirus outbreak started to spread in European countries widely, Portugal and Spain introduced tighter controls to protect the lives of their citizens.
In March last year, Spain and Portugal decided to close their shared border for the first time due to the high infection rate of COVID-19.
In July 2020, Spain reopened its doors to citizens from Portugal after three and a half months. Such a decision was commemorated by Spain’s King Felipe VI and the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a meeting with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister António.
However, due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and its new strains, both countries’ authorities agreed to bring back land border controls in February 2021.
The Coronavirus pandemic situation pushed both countries’ governments to extend their border controls between territories until March 1. Since then, border controls between both countries have been extended several times, until April 6, then again until April 17, and now the rules will be kept in place until May 3.
Based on the statistics published by Worldometers, Spain is the 9th most affected country by the virus, with 3,407,283 reported cases and 76,981 deaths. In comparison, Portugal has reported 829,911 cases of COVID-19 infection since the pandemic’s beginning, while the 30th most attacked country by the disease.
