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Wednesday 30 September 2020
Madrid is the focus of the pandemic: a fifth of the tests are positive, more than 40 percent of the beds in intensive care units are occupied by corona patients. However, the regional president is against stricter restrictions. But now the central government is cracking down on it.
The Spanish central government has announced the closure of large cities in the event of a high number of corona infections, regardless of the resistance of various regions. “The order will come into effect in the next few days when it is published in the Official Gazette,” said Health Minister Salvador Illa in Madrid. According to the order, freedom of movement and social contacts must always be restricted if in a city with at least 100,000 inhabitants the 14-day incidence exceeds 500 new infections, at least ten percent of all corona tests. are positive and the beds in the intensive care units are more than 35 The percentage is occupied by patients with a crown.
All three requirements already apply to the capital. Residents should only be able to leave Madrid for important reasons, for example to go to school, work or the doctor. Also, bars and restaurants in the future will have to close at 11pm, hotels will only be able to accept half of the guests that they normally would. Meetings are limited to six people. The situation in the capital is “complex and worrying,” Illa said. On Wednesday alone, 4,810 new cases of infection were recorded, this is the second highest daily value since the beginning of the second wave of corona infections.
Madrid is the new focus
Illa said that the “proposal” was approved by a large majority at the meeting of the Interterritorial Health Council in Madrid. Her announcement came as a surprise, as it had previously been said that all 17 regions would have to agree to the adoption. In addition to Madrid, Catalonia, Murcia, Galicia and Andalusia also voted against the central government’s plans. Spokesmen for these regions said the deal was deemed rejected.
Politicians from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party also expressed doubts about the legality of the order announced by Illa. By establishing uniform criteria, the left-wing central government mainly wanted to counter the conservative Madrid government’s charge that the region around the capital was discriminated against for political reasons and treated more harshly than other regions of Spain. The Sánchez government has been demanding for days that Madrid adopt stricter restrictions and, if possible, isolate the entire region.
The conservative regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has so far refused to cordon off the city due to the consequences for the economy. To date, 45 areas of Madrid have been partially cordoned off. Experts have criticized these measures as inadequate. The high number of infections has made Madrid a focus of the pandemic in Western Europe. According to figures from Wednesday, in 14 days there were 735 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. For Spain as a whole, the value is 284. One fifth of all corona tests in Madrid are positive, and more than 40 percent of beds in intensive care units are occupied by corona patients.
