A group of migrants rescued off the coast of Fuerteventura have been placed in mandatory quarantine as Spain moves to reduce the likelihood of imported coronavirus cases, local officials said in a statement on Saturday.

Their boat was pulled to safety by the Spanish coastguard on Friday night and all 38 migrants were taken to a port in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. 

They were rescued on the day that Spain began imposing a new mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement on any incoming travelers arriving by sea or air in a bid to avoid any imported infected cases of COVID-19.

On arrival, the migrants were placed in quarantine, a Canaries government official told AFP, without giving any details about who was on board or where they were being held. 

The new measures will remain in force until May 24 when the state of emergency expires, although the government on Saturday signaled its intent to extend such restrictions until the end of June. 

One of the world's worst-hit countries in which coronavirus has infected more than 230,000 people domestically and killed over 27,000, Spain has begun a cautious process of slowly lifting its stringent mid-March lockdown. 

Fuerteventura is located around 100 kilometers off the northwestern coast of Africa. 

Although the numbers of migrants reaching Spain have fallen steadily since 2019, the numbers reaching the Canary Islands by sea has shot up, with figures to April 15 showing 1,781 arriving in 2020 compared with 181 over the same period in 2019.

AFP