Madrid Health Minister Urges Authorities To Mandate Fresh COVID-19 Tests For Travelers

Madrid Health Minister Urges Authorities to Mandate Fresh COVID-19 Tests For Travelers

Authorities in the Spanish community of Madrid propose a federal-level ban barring entry for any travelers without certified negative COVID-19 tests, regional Health Minister Enrique Ruiz Escudero said on Friday

MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2020) Authorities in the Spanish community of Madrid propose a federal-level ban barring entry for any travelers without certified negative COVID-19 tests, regional Health Minister Enrique Ruiz Escudero said on Friday.

In his opinion, the Spanish government must agree with other countries whose citizens are allowed to enter Spain to conduct coronavirus tests 24-48 hours in advance.

"We ask the same for travelers from Madrid who travel outside of Spain," Escudero said in an interview with radio station Onda Cero.

The Community of Madrid remained the country's epicenter of transmission throughout the epidemic in the country so far. Although the daily numbers of new cases and fatalities have largely deflated, they are beginning to creep back up, mostly due to hotspots in the Catalonia and Aragon regions. On Thursday, the nationwide registered cases exceeded the 2,000 mark for the first time since mid-May.

Escudero said that health authorities have identified seven infection clusters in Madrid, compared to the nationwide 280 clusters. The health official assured listeners that Madrid was still introducing new measures to stem the infections spread along with most other regions in Spain.

Madrid remains one of the few Spanish communities that does not have a mandatory mask-wearing policy in place. Escudero explained this is a result of Madrid's citizens largely responsible behavior.

Over the past two weeks, 16,410 cases of COVID-19 infections have been identified in Spain, while seven people have died in the past week. The total number of detected cases since the beginning of the epidemic has exceeded 270,000 people, according to the Ministry of Health, while over 28,400 patients have died.