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| - Germany on Friday added all of Spain, excluding the Canary Islands, to its list of high-risk coronavirus areas, the health ministry said, in a major blow to popular tourist destinations like Mallorca and Ibiza. The decision means travellers returning from mainland Spain or the Balearic Islands must take a free mandatory COVID-19 test and face a period of quarantine. "A very dynamic outbreak is evident in Spain. The number of cases is continuing to rise," a health ministry spokeswoman told AFP. The risk warning does not apply to the Canary Islands, she added. European countries have watched with mounting concern as Spain has endured a spike in cases in recent weeks. Spain's tourist industry had hoped to rescue some of its summer season after the coronavirus pandemic all but wrote off the first half of 2020. More than 11 million Germans visited Spain last year. Germany is also grappling with infection numbers not seen since early May, a trend partly blamed on holidaymakers returning from abroad. "We must be very attentive and very alert," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters on Friday, noting that many new cases can be attributed to "people coming back infected". "We have to make sure that as we approach the autumn and winter we don't end up experiencing a dynamic that will lead to even higher numbers," he warned. Germany introduced compulsory coronavirus tests last weekend for people returning from high-risk areas. Anyone who can't produce a negative test result that is less than 48 hours old must take a free test upon arrival and quarantine themselves at home until the result comes back negative. German sunseekers were among the first to return to hotspot Mallorca in June, when it reopened to foreign visitors following weeks of coronavirus lockdowns across Europe. But video footage soon emerged showing Germans partying and drinking outside Mallorcan bars without face masks or keeping a safe distance, sparking alarm on the island and in Germany. The German government has a policy of warning against travel to areas with more than 50 new virus cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. In Spain, with a population of 47 million, that number stands at more than 56, the health ministry said. Germany's list of at-risk locations in Spain already included the capital Madrid and regions such as Catalonia -- including the tourist sites of Barcelona and the Costa Brava -- and the Basque Country. The UK was the first major European country to place Spain on a quarantine list at the end of July, with France advising against travel to Catalonia soon after. edf/mfp/tgb
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