Spain on Wednesday expressed hopes there would be no need to close the border with France as the coronavirus situation in Catalonia was coming under control.
Madrid officials have expressed concerns after French prime minister Jean Castex on Sunday did not rule out closing the border.
“With the latest data we have in Aragon and Catalonia we are a bit more optimistic. Catalonia has already reduced the number of infections over the last three days. Let’s hope that with this better data we don’t have to close a border that for us is very important for mobility with our European partners”, tourism minister Reyes Maroto said.
Last week, about 160,000 people in Catalonia returned to confinement. The country has successfully slowed the number of new infections after the April peak, but just as the restrictions were lifted, a fresh wave of infections has appeared, mostly around the Catalan cities of Barcelona and Lleida.
Health officials said Monday that new cases in the country have jumped from 8 infections per 100,000 inhabitants to 27 per 100,000. Catalonia registered 63 new cases on Tuesday, 70 on Monday and 994 on Sunday, down from a peak of 1,226 on Saturday.
Health Minister Salvador Illa said that the active clusters in Spain are mostly linked to parties, family events and fruit harvesting.
