Tighter travel curbs against UK arrivals are now in place for Britons in Spain. They came into effect at midnight on 2 July.

Earlier this week, prime minister Pedro Sanchez announced the new restrictions, which will require all unvaccinated Britons to present a negative Covid test issued within 48 hours. Antigen tests are not accepted.

The rise in Delta variant cases in the UK are behind the move.

The Independent’s Simon Calder has the full report here:

Ryanair has just reported sharply increased passenger numbers for June.

In the same month in 2020, Europe’s biggest budget airline carried only 400,000 travellers. But in June 2021, passengers increased to 5.3 million.

In 2019, the comparable figure was around 13 million.

Traffic increased almost three-fold over May 2021.

The vast majority of the growth was within the EU, due to continued travel restrictions to and from the UK.

The load factor (proportion of seats occupied) was 72 per cent – about 20 per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Spain rose to 1.36 million in May, up from virtually zero who came in May 2020 when the country was under a strict lockdown, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Friday.

The number of tourists more than doubled from April 2021 as travel restrictions were eased but was still 83 pe cent lower than in May 2019, the data showed.

Foreign tourists spent a total 1.39 billion euros ($1.64 billion) in May, 83 per cent less than in the same month in 2019, INE said.

Reporting by agencies

Millions of Britons could be shut out of European holidays because some AstraZeneca jabs are not automatically recognised by the EU vaccine passport scheme, writes Alastair Jamieson.

The new EU Covid certificate, designed to open up travel for those immunised against the virus, does not include batches of the vaccine produced in India because they have not been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Up to 5 million Indian-made doses have been administered in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reported, identifiable by their batch numbers as shown on patients’ card or in the NHS app. Those Britons could be turned away at EU border crossings, the newspaper said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet Boris Johnson today.

According to a report in The Times, the move could mean fully jabbed Britons could move more freely without quarantine.

At present, all British visitors to Germany must quarantine for 14 days, regardless of vaccination status.

England are due to play Ukraine tomorrow in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals in Rome.

The game has triggered a surge of interest in travelling to the Italian capital for the game - but the tangle of red tape makes it unlikely any UK arrivals will be able to attend.

The Independent’s Simon Calder has all the questions and answers for readers here:

A total of 161,981 confirmed and probable cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant have now been identified in the UK, according to the latest figures from Public Health England - up by 50,824, or 46 per cent, on the previous week.

Reporting by agencies

Jet2’s chief executive, Steve Heapy, has spent the morning at Bristol airport where his company has opened a new base. The first flight departed to green-listed Mallorca.

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Heapy said: “It’s given everyone a shot in the arm. It’s confirmed me and reminded me why I love the industry so much.“

The faces on the customers are saying, ‘We’re going on holiday – isn’t this fantastic’.

“Today has been an absolute shot in the arm. We are back, and we’re back to stay.”

Mr Heapy also demanded that 19 July, the day set for reopening in England, should also see the easing of international travel restrictions.

“Either the vaccine works or it doesn’t. If it does, give us some freedom,” he said.

Holidays have rarely been more complicated. At last week’s traffic light update, Malta, the Balearics and Madeira were all added to the “green list”, although only Malta made the “full green” grade.

Added to that, Spain has since tightened its entry requirements from today, demanding a negative Covid test issued within 48 hours for any UK arrivals who are unvaccinated.

Travel correspondent Simon Calder hosted his usual weekly “Ask Me Anything” session on Thursday, answering questions mainly relating to the traffic light changes.

Read his 25 answers here:

Simon Calder, travel correspondent of The Independent, has sought to dampen concern about certification of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India.

Writing in his weekly newsletter, he says: “As the proud owner of one vaccine made in Europe and another in India, I hope this turns out to be a non-story about the wrong kind of jabs.”

The only test that matters, he believes, is: “Does the NHS confirm that the traveller has received an approved vaccine?

“That is clearly the case for those of us fortunate enough to have both jabs.

“To give travellers one more cause for concern with an alarmist headline, ‘European holidays could be off limits to 5m Britons given Indian-made AstraZeneca jab,’ looks needless and irresponsible to me.”

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