OVIEDO, Spain

The Spanish Minister of Tourism said Tuesday that the government plans to reopen the country’s tourism sector when 30-40% of the Spanish population is vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Speaking to local broadcaster Canal Sur, Maraa Reyes Maroto said the government expects this to be achieved by spring and is “optimistic” about the summer tourism season.

“In April we’re getting 5 million doses from Pfizer alone. Add that to the doses from Moderna, AstraZeneca and Jansen, which are just one dose and should be approved in the next few days,” she said.

Within the EU, Spain is strongly advocating “health passports” that show whether a traveler has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested or previously infected.

Last summer, Spain launched an aggressive international tourism campaign, but the pandemic devastated the industry.

Currently, Spain has 1.4 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the country has given 4.8 million doses.

According to calculations by the local daily El Espanol, anyone in Spain over the age of 45 should be fully immunized by July if all doses arrive as planned.

Meanwhile, new infections in Spain remained low despite reopenings and the increasing dominance of the British variant.

The Spanish Ministry of Health reported just over 4,000 new cases, although it did not include data from Catalonia due to technical issues.

However, the death toll remained high. Almost 300 more people have been reported dead from COVID-19. A total of 71,727 people officially lost their lives to the disease in Spain.


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