Canary Islands ‘to axe Covid rules including masks for summer’ in holiday boost

Canaries’ public health director José Juan Alemán has told local media the Covid curbs could be scrapped by June in time for a carnival in Tenerife’s Santa Cruz
Playa de los Cristianos in Tenerife, Spain
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Lily Waddell4 March 2022

The Canary Islands could drop Covid restrictions including wearing face masks by the summer months.

It will be a huge boost for British tourists who have set their hearts on travelling to the Canary Islands over the summer this year.

In Spain, face masks remain mandatory on public transport and in some indoor settings or where social distancing is just not possible outdoors at the moment.

Now Canaries’ public health director José Juan Alemán has told local media the Covid curbs could be scrapped by June in time for a carnival in Tenerife’s Santa Cruz.

He told COPE Radio: “The probability of a new variant of the coronavirus causing the same problems as before is very low, and it is perfectly feasible that there will be street parties and dancing, probably without masks, at the Santa Cruz carnival in June.”

There has been a traffic light system of alerts put in place in the Canary Islands to determine how strict the Covid rules are.

Tenerife remains in level three while Gran Canaria is in level four.

This means there are curfews for bars and restaurants as well as some capacity limits.

The public health director added, “Before long the traffic light of alert levels in the Canary Islands is going to disappear.”

However, he did not confirm a date for when the traffic light system would be dropped.

The country relaxed its entry requirements for unvaccinated travellers, meaning unjabbed British travellers can travel to the holiday destination if they have recovered from Covid recently.

Proof of recovery from Covid will be accepted by officers instead of proof of vaccination.

The Canary Islands has always been a popular holiday destination for Britons.

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