More Europe travel restrictions, Russia produces first Covid-19 vaccine batch

Madrid Desk, 15 August (efe-epa).- As the United Kingdom imposes a 14-day quarantine on those visiting or returning from countries like Spain and France, Italy announced that crime has gone down in the last year amid the lockdown and Russia registers the world’s first coronavirus vaccine.

ITALY

Crime in Italy fell by 18.2% over the last year, according to data released on Saturday by the Interior Ministry, a drop attributable to the lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said at a press conference that from 1 August 2019 to 31 July 2020, just over 1.9 million crimes were recorded, a significant decline compared to the 2.3 million recorded in the previous year.

There were decreases across many types of crime including homicides (-16.8%) and robberies (-21.1%), although computer crimes did increase.

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom’s mandatory 14-day quarantine for all citizens returning from France took effect on Saturday, resulting in thousands of British tourists returning early from their holidays to avoid the measure.

The decision, which was announced on Friday, is a reaction to the upsurge of coronavirus cases in France. The measure also applies to those returning to or visiting the UK from the Netherlands, Spain, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos and Aruba.

FRANCE

The French government has expressed discontent with the United Kingdom’s last minute imposing of restrictions on travelers returning from France.

The worsening of the coronavirus epidemic means the UK is requiring a 14-day quarantine as of Saturday, resulting in thousands of British tourists vacationing in France buying the last available tickets on Friday for Eurostar trains, Eurotunnel train convoys, Calais ferries and airplanes.

In a statement, the French Foreign Affairs Ministry said it regretted the mandatory quarantine for passengers coming from France and reiterated that it would quickly impose reciprocal measures.

France has seen a recent upsurge in coronavirus cases, recording 12,947 last week.

GERMANY

Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn is urging German tourists who travel to Spain, despite the government’s advice against it, to take protection measures against the coronavirus.

In an excerpt from an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Spahn reinforces the government’s advice to its citizens, discouraging them from travelling to Spain (except the Canary Islands) as of Friday, due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in mainland Spain.

BRUSSELS

The number of new COVID-19 infections in Belgium reached an average of 604 per day in the last week, 5% more than the previous seven days.

The highest increases have been observed in Antwerp Limburg and Liège with a surge of 44%, and West Flanders, up by 33%.

In the last 24 hours, Belgium has recorded 922 new infections, which the Inter-Federal Coronavirus Crisis Centre attributed to an increase in testing.