There were no surprises. The Community of Madrid, Barcelona and his area
metropolitan and the nine provincial capitals of Castilla y León, which had requested to advance in the de-escalation, have succeeded. Starting on Monday, the citizens of these territories will resume freedoms after long weeks of confinement, which can be summarized basically in being able to reunite with family or friends on a terrace or at a home. They are the last to do so, as the rest of Spain was already in that phase.
But they will not be alone. Along with them, the citizens of the Valencian Community, who on this occasion had not requested to advance due to a slight increase in cases. The Andalusian provinces of Granada and Malaga and the Castilian-Manchegas of Ciudad Real, Albacete and Toledo do not pass either, since they have only been there for seven days (Health requires 14 days).
The rest of Spain (including Camp de Tarragona, Terres de l’Ebre and Alt Pirineu i Aran) goes on to phase 2, which in short means an increase in freedom of mobility and which will be enjoyed by around 46% of the population.
pubs
The terraces reopen with 50% of their tables and with a separation between them
And in the midst of all of them, the municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants that pass to phase 1, which will be able to take advantage of some measures foreseen for phase 2. In these places, the time slots for both children and practice are eliminated. free from non-professional physical activity, open-air markets may be authorized and the hotel and restaurant establishments may be reopened for consumption within the premises, except for nightclubs and nightlife bars.
In the words of the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, the constant reduction of new infections for some weeks, despite the increasing interaction between citizens, allows progress in de-escalation.
The head of the Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, stressed, with the new data that has been collected in recent weeks, that the circulation of the virus is decreasing. “If we are careful, we are at the point of having the virus at undetectable levels, “he said.
Mobility
Citizens cannot yet leave their province or their health area
Of course, he insisted again and again on the need to maintain security measures (masks, physical distance of two meters and hand washing), because even in this good situation, outbreaks, isolated and small, continue to be detected, but outbreaks at the end and after all, if they are not controlled quickly, they can break everything that has been achieved.
Thus, Simón revealed that there have been cases in Soria (23) and Teruel (15), in rural areas that have been “perfectly controlled”. In his opinion, this will be the way to act from now on: rapid detection and immediate control of cases, which would mean, at most, the isolation of a certain area. Or at most, a province.
More concerned – “a lot”, he emphasized – Simón showed himself with what is happening in Catalonia, despite the fact that yesterday he received authorization to advance. The reason is the delay in the delivery of the data that shows their situation for the second consecutive day. On Wednesday, Salut appealed to the validation of his numbers, the same argument he gave yesterday. “It has surprised us,” insisted the epidemiologist, who admitted that he did not know if this delay had to do with the appearance of cases “in a specific area.” To this comment, Salut replied yesterday that he did not know what he was referring to and that the data that is recorded daily in Catalonia does not indicate any deterioration in any area. Consellera AlbaVergés expressed her perplexity by that comment to the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa.
The epidemiologist had explained that Catalonia presents some “inconsistent” data and that yesterday there had been reports of “more deaths from previous days”, whose death date is “pending assignment”. In fact, after having validated yesterday’s data, Catalonia recorded a total of 6,656 deaths, which is 635 more than those that appeared in the balance sheet last Thursday. Those 600 extra deaths come from the validation of previous deaths reported by the Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, but which were already incorporated in the accounts of the Generalitat, according to Salut.
The figures of the epidemic in Catalonia that the Department of Health provides every day never match those offered by the Ministry of Health because “we give the declared cases, before being validated, which are the ones received by the ministry”, explain sources from the Ministry. For example: yesterday the ministry reported 150 new Covid-19 patients with a positive PCR test and, according to the document provided by Salut to the media, there were 70 and 194 the day before. The same goes for the deceased. Salut’s data indicates that on the 20th there were 15, but only 3 appeared in the ministry table. Even the total figures do not fit. The total number of people who have died in Catalonia with a positive PCR amounts to 6,656 in the Ministry and 6,954 in the Generalitat.
As of yesterday, according to Health data, 56 deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 28,628 (when including the previous 635 in Catalonia), and 446 new cases compared to 344 the previous day ( not counting Catalonia), bringing the figure to 234,824.
Be that as it may, the reality is that since Monday, 46% of the population passes to phase 1, thus recovering some of their freedoms, something that the residents of Central Catalonia, Lleida, Girona, l ‘already know. Alt Penedès and Garraf, which have been in that period for a week. Thus, it is possible to circulate through the province, or territorial unit, in groups of a maximum of ten people.
The wakes will be held with a maximum limit of 15 people in open spaces or 10 people in closed spaces and attend places of worship with a third of their capacity. The municipalities can allow the markets, with a maximum of 25% of stalls, bars and restaurants will offer their service on the terraces, with 50% of their tables. Libraries are opened for loan and room reading with a reduction of 30%.
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