ARCHIVED - Coronavirus special for Murcia and Spain 12th March 2020

Murcia prepares for lockdown as Spain reacts to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic with over 3,000 cases

The last few days have been a period of dizzyingly rapid change in the Region of Murcia and the rest of Spain, with the latest news concerning the spread of the coronavirus pandemic developing so quickly that no sooner is one update published than it is out of date, the number of cases confirmed rising exponentially as the week has gone on.

It is worth recalling that when the last Murcia Today weekly bulletin was published just six days ago there were 385 cases confirmed in the whole of Spain and none at all in the Region of Murcia, but the sheer speed of developments since then has been surreal.

At the time of publication of this update there are now almost 10 times as many cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Spain, the total standing at 3,051, and since the first case was reported in Murcia on Saturday the figure has more or less doubled every day: it now stands at 29, although at the current rate of multiplication it could easily be well into three figures before the weekend is out.

At the same time, the number of fatalities related to the spread of the virus has risen from 5 to 86 in the last six days and is expected to increase dramatically in the near future.

Since the first case was confirmed on Saturday the number has more or less doubled on a daily basis. Most of the patients are in the municipality of Murcia itself, but others have been detected in Cartagena, Totana and Puerto de Mazarrón.

In this context the national government has officially upgraded its policy from one of “containment” to “reinforced containment”, and both the Spanish government and the 17 regional administrations are now implementing a whole range of drastic measures in order to slow down the spread of the infection and limit its effects in any way possible.

The latest responses in Murcia

In Murcia, the level of concern among members of the public could be said to have risen from “negligible” a week ago to “extreme” by Thursday 12^th March, and the latest in a series of measures announced by the regional government is that all schools, kindergartens and university classes are to be cancelled as of next Monday. This came after two schools had suspended classes the day before due to members of the teaching staff having tested positive for the coronavirus, and was a welcome response to the atmosphere in the city of Murcia on Thursday morning: as people went about their daily business it was with an air of resignation in the realization that their routines are suddenly being changed almost beyond recognition, and now parents all over the Region will be planning how to adapt to the need to look after their children while continuing to work.

The national government has announced that help will be given to those who find themselves in this situation but the details are still hazy: clarification is becoming more necessary almost by the hour, as the closure of schools spread to 10 of the country’s 17 regions by late afternoon but during the evening all of the Autonomous Communities decided to follow; all schools in Spain will now close by Monday.

It is important to point out that the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain not only run their own local governments, but also run their own regional health authorities and make many of their own decisions at regional level, hence the extreme difficulty in monitoring the evolution of the virus in real time, as well as the different reactions of each regional government to the crisis.

The Murcian regional government has acted swiftly in closing schools to minimise the risk of contagion and other measures announced by the Murcia government include the following:

- All activities involving more than 1,000 people in enclosed spaces are cancelled.

- It is recommended that any event at which more than 50 people are expected should not go ahead. This includes not only public events but also private ones such as weddings, funerals, communion celebrations and even visits to the theatre or cinema.

- Leisure centres for the elderly are closed until at least 31^st March, while visitors to day centres and residences are to be limited. Residents of such centres are advised to remain on the premises.

- Sports events at which large numbers of spectators are expected are to be held behind closed doors or cancelled completely.

- The 32 public transport companies in the Region of Murcia and all taxi drivers are required to intensify their cleaning and hygiene protocols.

- Non-urgent consultations at hospitals are being postponed in order to lessen the workload on the regional health service and visitors to hospitals are limited to one per patient.

In addition, the Bishop of Cartagena (a diocese which includes the whole of the Region) has recommended that weddings, baptisms and First Communions be postponed, and Town Halls all over the Region are practically closing down all public activities.

In the city of Murcia all weekly street markets have been suspended until further notice and concerts, sporting events, festivals, activities for the elderly and other events are cancelled or postponed and similar measures are in place at a local level throughout Murcia, with official Town Hall bulletins on Thursday including those issued in Alhama de Murcia, Águilas, Jumilla, Mazarrón, Los Alcázares, San Javier and almost all of the 45 municipalities of the Region issuing similar orders.

Nearly every street market in the region has been cancelled today until the end of March, almost all sports centres and facilities run by local councils are closed, all libraries, museums, cultural centres, exhibition halls, auditoriums and theatres, adult education centres and council offices are closed and councils are generally requesting that anyone with queries either phones or emails, avoiding any contact in person with town hall employees to reduce the risk of contagion.

In Cartagena, meanwhile, worries over the planned arrival of the “Ópera” cruise ship from Italy in the port on 18^th March were put to rest on Wednesday morning with the news that the visit has been cancelled due to all of the passengers on board having been confined to quarantine in the port of Genoa.

Looking slightly further ahead, the annual Easter Week processions (and the Semana de la Primavera celebrations the following week in the regional capital) will almost certainly be affected: the election of the “Reinas de la Huerta” – the queens of the fiestas in Murcia - has already been postponed and while the Semana Santa processions are still pencilled in the preliminary events during what remains of Lent have almost all been cancelled. Mazarrón has cancelled its Fiestas de san José and the accompanying tapas route, and realistically, it is safe to assume that any events advertised by our 45 local councils will be cancelled. IFEPA has also cancelled the EQUIMUR horse show scheduled to take place at the end of this month.

Some tourist offices have also closed and most of the guided walks run by the network have been cancelled.

Whereas five days ago life went on as usual, on Thursday it is no exaggeration to say that many shops, restaurants and other businesses are also considering closing their doors, and many people appear unable to resist the temptation to indulge in panic buying: various supermarket shelves were practically empty on Wednesday evening for the first time since the gota fría storm of last September.

On this occasion, though, the reason for those shortages was very different: in September it was impossible to transport supplies to Murcia due to heavy flooding, but this week the problem is simply that the suppliers cannot keep up with the level of demand as shoppers envisage shutting themselves in their homes for the next few weeks and panic buy.

The national and regional supermarket associations have called for calm and are assuring shoppers that there is no need to panic as there is one supermarket per 840 capita in Spain and our distribution network here is excellent. Spain is a major producer of fresh fruit and vegetables and Murcia is a significantly agricultural region and their logistical centres have the capacity to replace out of stock situations very quickly, so don´t panic, if worried shoppers have wiped out the meat in your local supermarket today, more will be arriving tomorrow, and more the day after; there is no shortage of food.

The latest coronavirus news in the rest of Spain

If extreme measures are being taken in Murcia, it is worth pointing out that a total of 29 cases is no more than a drop in the ocean as the figure for the whole country rises to over 3,000 (by 10pm this figure had risen to over 3,142). Almost half of those cases are in the region of Madrid, where schools have already been closed for two days, and educational activity is now closing down in every region of Spain, leaving more than 9.5 students without classes.

The cultural and social calendar all over the country has been utterly decimated, and in terms of sport there are almost no fixtures left standing for at least the next two weeks: games in the lower tiers of Spanish football were postponed on Wednesday, and on Thursday La Liga also fell victim as the federation bowed to pressure from clubs while Real Madrid announced that their players had been quarantined.

At the same time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has shown no respect for the country’s leading politicians, and on Thursday Irene Montero, the Minister for Equality, announced that she has tested positive: as a precautionary measure, her partner Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the Unidas Podemos party and Second Vice-President of Spain’s coalition government, has been placed in quarantine.

This has led to concern that the virus could be spreading among members of parliament, following the revelation earlier in the week that Javier Ortega Smith, the general secretary of the far-right Vox party (at the other end of the political spectrum from Unidas Podemos) has also tested positive. Vox was heavily criticized for allowing Sr Ortega Smith to take part in a mass meeting in Vistalegre (Madrid) on 8^th March despite already presenting symptoms of infection, and the party has since apologized for its “mistake”: party members from Murcia attended the event in Vistalegre and as a result, while they now work from home, the third floor of the regional parliament building in Cartagena has been specially disinfected as a precaution. As a result, the Spanish Congress has suspended activities for two weeks tonight and it was also announced tonight that the President of Vox, Santiago Abascal and the Secretary General of the party in Congress, Macarena Olona, had also tested positive after attending the same congress.

This evening the government of the Cataluña region, the Generalitat de Cataluña, ordered the quarantining of 70,000 residents in the Barcelona municipalities of Igualada, Vilanova del Camí, Santa Margarida de Montbui and Ódena, impeding residents from entering and leaving the four areas in order to contain the spread of the virus.

In Madrid, the Mayor has requested that residents only leave their homes if it is essential to do so, with more than 1,400 cases and at least 56 dead and the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has refused to rule out the possibility of declaring  a state of alarm in Madrid and quarantining the city altogether; the situation "is not static" he said.

Morocco has cancelled air connections and marine communication links with Spain, in an effort to prevent cross-border contagion as part of a joint initiative between both governments. There are currently 6 cases in Morocco, and one death. 12,000 Spanish nationals are resident in Morocco, but thousands of Spanish tourists cross the borders into Morocco on a daily basis from the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and the authorities understand that many will wish to return to Spain. For this reason the Ceuta border will remain open temporarily, but the border with Melilla will close between Monday 16th and Thursday 19th March.

Other news reflecting the rapid spread of the pandemic in Spain include the following:

- India, Italy, the USA and Australia are among a dozen or so countries not accepting Spanish visitors: travel restrictions are extended worldwide as the epidemic spreads to all continents.

- Bans are in place on cultural and other events where over 1,000 spectators are expected.

- The State-funded “Imserso” holiday and travel scheme for pensioners has been suspended for at least a month.

- All direct flights from Italy to Spain have been cancelled until at least 25th March.

- The annual Fallas in Valencia, one of the biggest fiestas in Spain, were due to be held next week but have been cancelled.

Looking ahead…

It is now clear that the impact of the coronavirus crisis on Spain will be a very significant one indeed in economic terms, (the stock exchange in Spain suffered the worst losses in its history, falling by 14% today) and during an address on Thursday afternoon Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez announced measures to support small businesses, the tourism sector and others likely to suffer the severest and most immediate effects.

Most of the measures announced consist of the distribution of 2,800 million euros to regional governments and health services to help meet the costs of the crisis, but as yet it is far too early to evaluate what those costs might eventually amount to in terms of lost revenue, lost jobs and missed opportunities.

The first priority for Spain, as for other nations throughout the world, is to survive the coronavirus pandemic and at present it is thought that this could take between two and four months. By that time the summer tourist season will be either imminent or under way, and 2020 is bound to be a very poor year for a sector which is one of the mainstays of the Spanish economy.

In the meantime, the national and regional governments insist that working from home must be encouraged and allowed where possible, and all members of the public are urged to behave responsibly and with caution in order to avoid contracting the coronavirus and spreading it to others.

As for the near-complete cancellation of social, cultural and sporting events in the Costa Cálida, fortunately the Region of Murcia has plenty of outdoor locations both along the coast and inland, far away from the crowded cities, where the risk of contagion is minimal. Over the coming few weeks Murcia Today will be highlighting some of these gems, and while people search for the silver linings in the coronavirus cloud the chance to explore Murcia a little more in depth might be one of them!

What to do if you are in the Region of Murcia and believe you may have contracted the virus

The regional government has set up a special helpline to supply information to members of the public (900 121212), and also urges people to call the 112 emergency services line if they suspect that they may have contracted the virus rather than going straight to hospital or to a medical centre. Medical staff will be sent to your home to test for the virus.

The regional government has also urged the public to avoid going to the doctor unless absolutely necessary and has cancelled thosuands of non-urgent hospital appointments, so check with the hospital if you have an appointment in the near future.

Sensible precautions

The advice being issued to members of the public by medical authorities all over the world coincides on the following points:

- Wash hands frequently with either soap and water or a sanitiser gel

- Catch coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues – and throw the tissues away immediately after use before immediately washing your hands!

- If you don’t have a tissue, use your sleeve – and wash the item of clothing used at the next opportunity

- AVOID touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands

- AVOID close contact with people who are unwell

- AVOID business meetings and large social gatherings

- AVOID travelling if at all possible

- Maintain a distance of at least 1 metre from others in public places

- Don´t panic!

Please follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest updates locally for the Region of Murcia and the main information for the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/.

Facebook is limiting the number of posts we are able to make in local groups, and the sheer volume of incoming information is overwhelming, so all updates and cancellations of events etc in the Region of Murcia will be posted on this main page and will not be shared into many local groups. PLEASE help to support the flow and sharing of information by following this main Facebook page and sharing the information into groups to which you have access to ensure the flow of information in ENGLISH WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY.

Click here to keep abreast of the latest official figures regarding the coronavirus epidemic in Spain and the measures implemented by the national and regional governments.

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