Date Published: 07/01/2021
ARCHIVED - 22 municipalities will be confined from midnight on Friday in Murcia Region
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Lorca, Cartagena and Murcia City are amongst those which join the 9 municipalities confined on Monday.
On Wednesday the Region of Murcia reported the highest number of cases ever diagnosed during a single day in the region, and also reported a positivity rate more than three times the levels seen before Christmas, confirming fears that the relaxation in restrictions during the festive season was prompting a third wave of infections.
Epidemiologists have already warned this week that the third wave will be worse than the second, as the virus is starting from a high base rate of infections compared to the starting point from which the second wave began in September when Spain was reporting only 25 cases per 100,000 of population.
The AI rate per 100,000 of population in Murcia stood at 327 per 100,000 yesterday, and with this as the starting point from which the third wave is beginning, there are genuine concerns that the health services could be completely overwhelmed if stricter measures are not imposed immediately.
In a special session of the Covid Monitoring Committee on Thursday it was agreed that the following municipalities would be added to the existing list of confinements from midnight on Friday: Murcia City (which includes the outlying districts of this municipality, including Corvera, Sucina, Gea y Truyols etc, Cartagena and all of the campo de Cartagena which includes areas such as Tallante, La Azohía, Los Belones, Cabo de Palos, Los Nietos etc, Lorca and its outlying districts, Molina de Segura, Lorquí, Mula, Ceutí, Cieza, Alguazas, Ricote and Yecla.
These join Villanueva del Río Segura, Fortuna, Jumilla, San Pedro del Pinatar, Las Torres de Cotillas, La Unión, Santomera, Abanilla and Los Alcázares.
All of these municipalities are now confined, so residents are not allowed to enter or leave the municipality other than for essential reasons. These include going to work, attending medical or legal appointments or caring for a dependent. Playing golf, shopping, going out for a meal, meeting friends are NOT considered essential reasons for leaving the borders of the municipality.
Similarly, residents from other municipalities are not permitted to cross the border into the affected municipalities other than for the same reasons.
All other municipalities remain free of confinements for the moment.
Residents are not confined to their homes and are free to move around within their municipality.
Schools remain open.
Restrictions on the hostelry sector:
Bars and restaurants in these municipalities will only be allowed to open external terrace areas and the interiors of their establishments are not allowed to open at all. Shops may open open to a maximum of 50% of potential occupancy.
Curfew has been brought forward across the region.
The curfew will now begin at 22:00.
The regional border confinement will remain in place for at least the next two weeks.