Spain extends border controls with Portugal until March due to COVID-19

Spain's government announced on Tuesday it had extended controls along its 1,200-km (750-mile) border with Portugal until March 1, as both countries try to rein in a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths.

Spain's government announced on Tuesday it had extended controls along its 1,200-km (750-mile) border with Portugal until March 1, as both countries try to rein in a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths. "The severity of the restrictive mobility measures still in force in Spain and Portugal justifies maintaining ... controls at the internal land border ... with the same limitations applied during the initial ten days," the Spanish interior ministry said in the government's official bulletin.

The two governments had agreed to close on Jan. 28 the border for non-essential travel with exceptions for cross-border workers, health workers and truck drivers. A surge in infections in Portugal since Christmas left hospitals on the verge of collapse, prompting a strict nationwide lockdown. Daily cases and deaths have fallen significantly in the past week, but hospitalisations and the number of patients in intensive care units remained high. .

In Spain, a third wave of COVID-19 infections is ebbing, with the 14-day incidence rate falling to 667 cases per 100,000 people on Monday from 900 cases in late January, but officials say the arrival of the new strains could drive a resurgence.