The Spanish-owned Room Mate chain of boutique hotels has become the first hotel chain to offer its guests free Covid-19 tests.

Guests will be tested on arrival or can choose to take a free antigen test before travelling at any of around 100 clinics across Spain run by Quirón, Room Mate’s partner in the scheme. The hotel will then use an app to track guests’ symptoms during their stay. Long-stay guests and hotel staff will be tested every three to five days.

The antigen test produces results within 15 minutes, compared with 48 hours for the more costly PCR “gold-standard” test used by the UK government, where samples have to be sent off to a lab.

The scheme will be piloted in four Room Mate hotels in Spain – in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Granada – and will then be extended to the company’s 28-strong chain of hotels around the world.

“Right now, our priority is the health of our guests,” said chief executive Kike Sarasola. “My employees will have the comfort of knowing they are working a safe environment, as will our clients.”

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/oct/01/spanish-hotel-group-to-offer-guests-free-covid-testing

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Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit will begin mid-stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in Spain on Monday, the programme’s lead investigator said.

Alberto Borobia said 190 people would take part in the country’s trials, which will take place in three hospitals and be concluded by Sept. 22.

The Spanish study is part of mid-stage, or Phase II, trials of the vaccine that are being carried out in three countries, also including the Netherlands and Germany. The trials in the three countries will last two months and include 550 participants in total.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-vaccine/jj-unit-to-start-mid-stage-covid-19-vaccine-trials-in-spain-idUSL8N2GA0NA

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Spain said on Saturday it would allow in British tourists from Sunday without requiring them to spend two weeks in quarantine, opening up to one of its largest tourism markets after the hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

But as much as Spain wants to welcome British tourists, the UK’s current quarantine measures, requiring a two-week period of self-isolation for most people entering the country from abroad, may well put off some potential travellers.

Britain is due to review its 14-day quarantine rule on June 29, three weeks after it was introduced.

“We will allow British visitors to enter Spain just like the rest of the European Union or Schengen area from 21 June freely and without the need for the quarantine,” foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told BBC News.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spain-britain/spain-to-allow-britons-to-visit-from-sunday-without-quarantine-idUSKBN23R0QU

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Spain’s Health Ministry reported no new deaths from the new coronavirus on Monday, with the total death toll unchanged from Sunday at 27,127, the health ministry said.

It said the total number of COVID-19 infections increased by 71 from Sunday to 239,638.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spain-tally/spain-reports-no-new-covid-19-deaths-71-new-cases-idUSKBN2382YW

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Up to a million Spanish families could soon receive an ongoing monthly payment to help them through the coronavirus crisis as the country’s government looks set to approve a €3 billion ($A5 billion) basic income scheme.

The program, targeting low or no income families, will likely remain beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, which is expected to push the unemployment rate to more than 20 per cent in the country of almost 47 million people, according to the International Monetary Fund.  

Discussing the measures on local television last month, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said they were intended to “stay forever, that it becomes a structural instrument, a permanent instrument.”

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/spain-set-to-introduce-permanent-basic-income-scheme-to-rebuild-economy-post-coronavirus

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Tourists will be able to visit Spain from 1 July without having to quarantine for two weeks.

The government said cabinet ministers made the decision to lift the mandatory coronavirus quarantine during a meeting on Monday.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had already announced over the weekend that Spain was ready to welcome some foreign visitors in July but did not say if they would have to continue to stay in quarantine for two weeks.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-spain-to-welcome-tourists-from-1-july-with-no-quarantine-11994664

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The Spanish Health Ministry agreed on Friday to allow the Madrid region to move to Phase 1 of the country’s four-phase deescalation plan. This stage allows social gatherings of up to 10 people and sidewalk cafés to reopen at 50% capacity.

Health Minister Salvador Illa informed regional health chief, Enrique Ruiz-Escudero, of the decision on Friday morning. Madrid, considered the epicenter of the Covid-19 epidemic in Spain, had twice requested a looser lockdown since May 7, but on both occasions it was told that it failed to meet the requirements set out by health experts.

The central government announced this afternoon what other regions have been given the green light to transition to a new phase of the deescalation plan. With the exception of Valencia, all regional authorities have asked to move partially or completely to the next stage of the deescalation plan.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Illa indicated that all the provinces of Castilla y León, as well as the metropolitan area of Barcelona will move to Phase 1.

https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-05-22/spanish-government-will-allow-madrid-region-to-enter-phase-1-of-deescalation-plan.html

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Spain's health ministry has confirmed that the country's latest daily death toll from coronavirus is 48.

The daily figure rose from 83 on Tuesday to 95 on Wednesday but this marks the first time it has dipped below 50 since 16 March, having peaked at 950 on 2 April.

The ministry said that the number of confirmed cases had risen by 482 to 233,037, with Spain's cumulative death toll now 27,940.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spain/spains-daily-covid-19-death-toll-at-48-excluding-catalonia-idUSKBN22X1YY

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Spain’s overnight death toll from the coronavirus was 59 on Monday, the lowest figure in two months, the government said.

The cumulative death toll rose to 27,709, while the number of confirmed cases rose to 231,606 on Monday from 231,350 the previous day, according to health ministry figures.

Figures include data for more than 24 hours as the ministry changed its methods on Monday. It was the second day in a row that deaths were under 100.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spain-toll/spain-reports-59-coronavirus-deaths-overnight-lowest-in-two-months-idUKKBN22U273

Spain recorded its lowest death toll in two months with 87 deaths in 24 hours.

It was the first time that Spain announced under 100 deaths in a day which could be due to a delay in reporting over the weekend, the health emergency coordinator said.

"This is good news – even if it is always hard to speak about deaths from this disease," said Fernando Simon, Spain's head of health emergency coordination.

https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/16/coronavirus-latest-italy-to-lift-travel-restrictions-from-june-3