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PCR WHEN ENTERING INTO SPAIN AFTER 23 NOV 2020 BY SEA OR PLANE

After November 23, 2020, all those passengers who come from a high-risk country / area in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, must necessarily present, in order to enter Spain, a certificate with a NEGATIVE result of PCR (RT-PCR of COVID-19), carried out in the 72 hours prior to your trip.

Travel agencies, tour operators, air or maritime transport companies and any other agent that sells tickets in isolation or as part of a combined trip must inform passengers, at the beginning of the process of selling tickets to Spain, as well as in the process of issuing the boarding pass, the obligation to present the Sanitary Control Form at the destination airport or port. Likewise, if the country or area of origin of the trip is classified as risky, they must report the obligation to have a PCR for SARS-CoV-2 with a negative result, carried out within 72 hours prior to arrival.

Upon arrival in Spain, if the passengers who, coming from a country or risk zone, do not adequately accredit the performance of a PCR for SARS-CoV-2 with a negative result, carried out within 72 hours during the documentary health check Prior to arrival, they must undergo the Active Infection Diagnostic Test (PDIA) established by the external health services. Likewise, those passengers who, after carrying out temperature controls, visual control or documentary control, are determined to be suspected of having COVID-19, must submit to the PDIA.

Alternatively, passengers may be required to carry out a COVID-19 RT-PCR test within 48 hours of arrival, the result of which must be communicated to the Foreign Health Services by the means indicated for this purpose.

It is a necessary measure from an epidemiological point of view to minimize the risks associated with the arrival of travelers from countries or areas with a high incidence in Spain.

It is in accordance with the principles contemplated in Recommendation (EU) 2020/1475 of the Council of the European Union, of October 13, 2020, on a coordinated approach to restricting free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which establishes the criteria and the common framework on the measures to be applied to travelers from the areas of greatest risk, and in Council Recommendation (EU) 2020/1632 of October 30, 2020, on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Schengen area.

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SANITARY CONTROLS
All passengers arriving in Spain by air or sea must undergo a health check before entering the country. Said controls may include taking the temperature, a documentary control and a visual control of the passenger’s condition.

Royal Decree Law 23/2020, of June 23, which approves measures in the field of energy and in other areas for economic reactivation, provides in its sixth additional provision that the Ministry of Health will determine the necessary sanitary controls to the that passengers arriving in Spain by air or sea must submit and the scope of said controls, being responsible for their execution. The health control prior to entry will be carried out at the first Spanish port or airport where the passenger arrives.

The temperature will be taken using non-contact thermometers or thermal imaging cameras. Personal data and images captured by thermal imaging cameras will not be stored, and the passenger’s privacy must be guaranteed at all times.

In the case of the arrival of passengers on an international trip to a Spanish port, the shipping companies, under the supervision of External Health, will take their temperature before their arrival.

With regard to documentary control, all passengers originating at any airport or port located outside of Spain must fill out a public health form called “Health Control Form”, the content of which differs depending on whether the trip is produced by by air or by sea. In the event that the passenger’s arrival is by air, he or she must fill in this form through the website

https://www.spth.gob.es/ — It will open in a new window. or through the free SPAIN TRAVEL HEALTH-SpTH application (available for Android, iOS).

When the traveler uses the sea route, while the computer system for this route is enabled, or when in exceptional cases it has not been possible to fill out the Health Control Form electronically, he must present the form upon arrival in Spain on paper, with a DIN A4, completed on both sides as shown for download.

As part of the documentary control that is carried out at the entry points, the passenger may be requested, at any time, to accredit the result of the PDIA. The supporting document must be the original, will be written in Spanish and / or English and may be submitted in paper or electronic format. The document will contain, at least, the following information: traveler’s name, passport number or national identity document or letter (which must coincide with the one used in the Health Control Form), date of the test, identification and contact details of the center conducting the analysis, technique used and negative test result.

Exceptionally, the non-performance of the PCR at origin may be admitted, regardless of the passenger’s country of origin, to seafarers who arrive in Spain back from their campaign aboard a ship or in transit to embark or disembark, having to justify their condition as a crew member and the impediments to carrying it out, without prejudice to the application of the provisions of the sixth section of the Resolution of November 11, 2020, of the General Directorate of Public Health, relative to sanitary controls to be carried out at the points of entry in Spain.

Sanitary evaluation

Passengers with a temperature higher than 37.5ºC and those who are determined to be suspected of having COVID-19 or another transmissible pathology after visual control or after analyzing the information contained in the Health Control Form, In the event that it indicates the presence of symptoms or close contacts with COVID-19, they must undergo a health evaluation, which will include an assessment of their clinical and epidemiological status and the performance of a Diagnostic Test for Active Infection (PDIA) , If necessary.

If, after the health evaluation, the suspicion that the passenger suffers from a pathology that could pose a risk to public health is confirmed, if it is a close contact with COVID-19 or if a positive result is obtained after carrying out a PDIA for SARS-CoV-2 upon arrival, the health alert protocols established in coordination with the health authorities of the autonomous communities will be activated. For this, the health authority may request the collaboration of other administrative bodies, public officials or other institutions.