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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Jamie Hawkins

Coronavirus: Government urges Brits in Spain to leave before Tuesday

Britons in Spain have been urged by the Foreign Office to return before March 24 when all Spanish hotels close.

Spain, which has the second largest coronavirus outbreak in Europe after Italy, has entered a state of emergency which means people are banned from going outside except to buy food, go to work, or get medical assistance.

The country's cases have rocketed to 8,744 as of Tuesday.

There have been 297 deaths from the killer virus.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: "The Spanish government have confirmed that all hotels will close in Spain from Tuesday 24 March.

"We therefore advise British travellers in Spain to contact their tour operator or airline as soon as possible, to arrange their return journey home before this date."

Barcelona El Prat International Airport (Getty Images)

Ryanair meanwhile has announced it may suspend all flights except those providing "essential connectivity", due to the coronavirus.

More than four out of five flights will be cancelled between Thursday and March 24.

After that period "we expect that most if not all Ryanair Group flights will be grounded", the airline said.

An exception will be "a very small number of flights to maintain essential connectivity, mostly between the UK and Ireland".

Malaga Airport (Alamy)

Ryanair said details of the severely reduced schedule can be found on the travel advisory page on the Ryanair.com website.

All airlines have slashed their flights in recent days due to travel restrictions and a collapse in demand caused by the spread of the coronavirus.

Trade body the Airport Operators Association (AOA) has warned that airports will shut down "within weeks" without Government intervention.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that a package of measures would be agreed to alleviate the impact of Covid-19 on aviation.

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