Britain's decision to reimpose a 14-day quarantine on people travelling from Spain is unfair, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said today.
He described the move as "not justified" and revealed the Spanish government had been in touch with the British government to try and make it change its mind.
Mr Sanchez said the "error" was for London to have considered the rate of coronavirus infections in Spain as a whole, when most regions had a lower rate than Britain's.
He said his country was now much better prepared to deal with the pandemic, than it had been in March.
The Northern Ireland Executive met today to discuss the decision to introduce quarantine for those arriving there from Spain.
Health minister Robin Swann appeared before the Stormont Assembly to answer urgent questions about the reimposing of the 14-day quarantine.
Mr Swann told MLAs that his decision was supported by the Executive and had been based on detailed scientific information.
"The evidence was considered so strong that delay was not feasible, the risk to the Northern Ireland population was too great to delay another day," he said.
"I will continue to make decisions based on scientific information to determine which countries may be removed or added to the exemption list and will move quickly to remove any country when the evidence supports this.
"The health and safety of the people of Northern Ireland is my main priority."
