Coronavirus emergency puts key Spanish regions out of bounds

These are the Spanish capital Madrid, La Rioja, and the municipalities of La Bastida and Vitoria (both in the Basque Country) and Miranda de Ebro in Castilla y León.

The Spanish government, declaring a state of emergency, has suspended all incoming flights from Italy until March 25.

It has also asked people to avoid unnecessary travel and to consider remote working where possible.

Authorities in the most affected regions are putting in place extraordinary measures such as the temporary closure of schools, public sports centres, theatres and day care centres for the elderly due to an increase in coronavirus cases.

The affected regions are prohibiting gatherings which involve more than 1,000 attendees.

All educational centres, including nurseries, schools and universities will close for 15 days or until further notice.

In other regions, individual schools are being closed where there are suspected cases of the virus.

National museums in Madrid are closed until further notice.

Some local festivals such as Las Fallas in Valencia and sporting events have been postponed.

Meanwhile Jet2 has today scrapped flights to key Spanish destinations.

In a statement, the company said: “In response to local measures introduced throughout Spain to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including the closure of bars, restaurants, shops and activities including any water sports, we have taken the decision to cancel all flights to Mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands with immediate effect.

“We know these local measures will have a significant impact on our customers’ holidays which is why we have taken this decision.

“We are contacting our customers who are currently in these destinations, and who are due to travel, to advise them of their options, so we urge customers not to call us.

“This is a fast-moving and complex situation and we are reviewing our programme as a matter of urgency, so that we can fly customers back to the UK.

“The health and safety of our customers is our number one priority, and we would like to thank our customers for their understanding”.