Britain moved on Spain after data showed jump in coronavirus cases, says Raab

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain acted swiftly to impose a quarantine on travellers returning from Spain after seeing data on Friday recording a large jump in coronavirus cases, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday.

Asked by Sky News why the decision was taken with so little notice, Raab said: "Because the cases in Spain, the data we got was on the Friday, we obviously compiled that through the course of the day.

"It showed a big jump right across mainland Spain. That was then assessed yesterday afternoon and we took the decision as swiftly as we could. We can't make apologies for doing so; we must be able to take swift, decisive action," he said, describing the move as a "a real-time response".

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mark Heinrich)