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[[File:Logo Monografía.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Mapa: Ciudades más pobladas de la Unión Europea. 2019. Europa. [//centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/busquedaRedirigida.do?ruta=PUBLICACION_CNIG_DATOS_VARIOS/aneTematico/Europa_Ciudades-mas-pobladas-de-la-Union-Europea_2019_mapa_18141_spa.pdf PDF]. [//centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/busquedaRedirigida.do?ruta=PUBLICACION_CNIG_DATOS_VARIOS/aneTematico/Europa_Ciudades-mas-pobladas-de-la-Union-Europea_2019_mapa_18141_spa.zip Datos].]]

If we look at the map showing the Most populous cities in the European Union, we may observe that the high rates of urbanisation in Europe translate to a network of numerous medium-sized (by global standards) cities in close proximity to one another. This urban pattern is totally different to the megacities in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It is particularly prominent in the aforementioned Blue Banana, where several cities with over half a million inhabitants are located just a short distance from one another and are included in different Member States. The density of flows between these cities played a significant role in easing the spread of the virus across the continent, which led to the roll-out of coordinated measures throughout the twenty-seven EU States. However, unlike

in other continents, the size and morphology of the European urban system allowed the Authorities to quarantine the cities and neighbourhoods with the highest incidence of infection with relative ease, and this helped to control the pandemic in the heart of Europe.

The map showing the [[:Archivo:Europa_Principales-aeropuertos-de-la-Union-Europea_2019_mapa_17850_spa.jpg|''Main airports in the European Union'']] tries to highlight the virus’ points of access to the Union from abroad, i.e. the international airports where measures were gradually introduced to slow down the arrival of passengers, first from Asia, then from South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom. It also shows the other airports in the network, which subsequently helped to spread the pandemic internally. Air transport flows in the European Union have two main components: business travel and leisure travel. Travel for work-related reasons is more common in the airports located in the main urban areas. Falls in the number of passengers at these airports as a result of lockdowns and reduced mobility were considerable. Frankfurt airport went from 70 million passengers in 2019 to 19 million in 2020; Madrid from 60 million in 2019 to 17 million in 2020; and Munich (München) from 48 million in 2019 to 11 million in 2020. By contrast, airports on the Mediterranean coast and the Canary Islands (islas Canarias) rely heavily on tourism. However, given that the outbreak of the virus happened in winter, during months of low tourist activity, these airports were less impacted by restrictions on mobility during the initial weeks of the pandemic. In June 2020, when the incidence of the virus had been reduced, lockdown measures were scaled-back and the summer tourist season began, some regional administrations in these areas –particularly the island regions– ventured to test tourist corridors, in which virus control systems at airports played a crucial role.