SPAIN WILL RE-OPEN its borders to visitors from Europe’s passport-free Schengen travel area on 21 June, the country’s prime minister has announced.

The move brings forward the original date the country was set to re-open by ten days

It will also drop its requirement for people arriving from abroad to stay in quarantine, either at home or in a hotel, for 14 days on arrival.

In an exception, the border between Spain and Portugal will remain closed to non-essential crossings until 1 July.

Spain’s government had already announced that on 21 June it would end the nation’s state of emergency to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

From then on, Spaniards will be able to move freely around the country without restrictions, but face masks will remain mandatory on public transport and in crowded spaces.

On Monday, Spain’s Balearic Islands will test their reopening strategy by accepting the first flights from Germany of tourists who will be exempt from a quarantine.

The islands plan to welcome up to 10,900 Germans during the trial.

More than 27,000 Spaniards have died in the country’s pandemic.

France is also opening its borders to all arrivals from the EU and countries in the Schengen zone on Monday.

The French government has urged fellow EU members to co-ordinate their border rules, and is sticking to calendar recommendations from the European Commission last week.

People arriving from inside Europe will not need to undergo quarantine, but France will apply different rules to visitors from Spain and Britain because they established different reopening schedules.

France will gradually allow visitors from outside Europe starting on 1 July, based on the virus situation in countries of origin.

However, China has reported its highest daily total of new coronavirus cases in two months, while infections in South Korea also rose, showing how the disease can come back as restrictions on business and travel are lifted.