The Diplomat
The Spanish government has advised against “any non-essential travel to Equatorial Guinea,” whose authorities have ordered the suspension of inbound and outbound air connections to deal with the health crisis caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“The Equatoguinean hospital system is very deficient, not being comparable to the Spanish one, both in equipment and specialists, especially in public hospitals,” the Ministry warned Friday in its new travel recommendations to the African country. “Hospital capacity and intensive care units could encounter stressful situations of lack of places and health personnel in some areas of the country,” it continued.
“Therefore, any non-essential travel to Equatorial Guinea is discouraged,” warned the Department headed by José Manuel Albares. “The public is invited to postpone any travel to Equatorial Guinea, unless there is an urgent need, until health security conditions are restored at the international level,” it added.
On the other hand, the Equatoguinean authorities have ordered the suspension of incoming and outgoing air connections from this past Friday until at least February 6, without prejudice to the possible organization of charter flights, which will be authorized on a case-by-case basis by the Equatoguinean authorities. “Spanish citizens wishing to leave Equatorial Guinea are advised to maintain frequent contact with commercial air operators to access these special charters, which are likely to be operated at short notice,” the Ministry added.
In addition, it continued, “obtaining a visa to enter Equatorial Guinea has been significantly complicated”, where “the regime for international travelers is very changeable, depending on the evolution of the pandemic”. About 2,650 Spaniards currently reside in Equatorial Guinea (out of a total of 1.4 million inhabitants, according to official data), a country that gained independence from Spain in 1968.
