Murcia Today Weekly Bulletin 14th November

Image 1; Huge queues in Aranda de Duero, Burgos, Castilla y León today, where mass testing is taking place following a huge surge in new cases of coronavirus.

This week the media has continued to focus on the covid pandemic, and although the figures reported remain worryingly high, there are chinks of light starting to filter through due to indications that the restrictions across Spain are starting to have some effect in reducing the spread of the virus.

Spain:

Covid case numbers:

Last Friday the Ministry of Health notified 22,500 new cases (a fall compared to the 25,595 of the previous week), bringing the overall total up to 1,328,832 and the total cases detected last week to 143,154 (139,546  the previous week and 109,572 the week before.)

This Friday the Ministry notified 21,371 new cases, bringing the overall total up to 1,458,591 and the total of new cases for this week to 129,759 a fall of 13,395 cases on the total of the previous week.

This final weekly total is the result of a slow process of new case numbers falling in almost all of the country; on Thursday the National Ministry of Health reported that "thirteen or fourteen autonomous communities or cities appear to be stabilizing or decreasing their case numbers" and although the numbers of new infections continues to be very high, averaging 18,537 a day in the last week, the official figures do show a stabilisation this week and a braking effect in the acceleration of new cases. That doesn´t necessarily mean that the spread of covid has slowed down, as without analysing the numbers of PCR tests undertaken in every region and looking at the positivity rate generated, it would be impossible to actually make that statement, but it does APPEAR that the restrictions are starting to take effect and slow down the transmission of the virus, which is positive news.

The slowdown in new cases is fairly generalised, although there are some regions faring worse than others, one of the most notable being the Valencia Region, which has consistently remained at the bottom of the list of accumulated incidence rates for months; suddenly this week the region has started to see a surge in new cases and the virus appears to be accelerating in this area of the Mediterranean coastline. Elsewhere "hotspots" are developing, Burgos being one example, where the AI rate has soared to1800 per 100,000 inhabitants over a 14 day period (see top image).

Accumulated incidence (rate per 100,000 of population) over a 14 day period

Four weeks ago Spain had an accumulated incidence rate of 280.44 per 100,000; the following week this increased to 484.28 and last Friday the rate was 525.74.

This Friday the level has fallen below the psychological barrier of 500 to 498, having gradually dropped throughout the week due to the lower number of cases being reported (from 514 on Wednesday to 504 on Thursday). Although this is an improvement, this level of cases is still way above the target number by which we can say that the virus is under control; 25 per 100,000.

The AI rate by region does give the most accurate indication of the state of play across the country, calculating the number of cases compared to head of population, rather than attempting to look at case numbers etc.

By region, this is the current AI level across the country per 100,000 of population over 14 days, the worst affected being the two enclaves on the African coast:

Ceuta 996; Melilla with 912 (both of these enclaves on the African coastline); Aragón, 871; Castilla y León 819; Basque Country 790; La Rioja, 785; Navarra 751;  Murcia 750; Catalonia 574; Asturias 573; Andalucía 548; Extremadura 535; Cantabria 519; Castilla la Mancha 502; Madrid 324; Galicia 317; Valencia Region 311; (the two sets of offshore islands) Balearic Islands 245; Canary Islands 82.

Navarra has improved significantly, and the intervention of Madrid has brought these figures right down this week, Cantabria has increased significantly, as have Andalucía and the Valencia Region.

The image shows that although deaths are increasing steadily, they are way below the levels of the spring.

Deaths:

Although the number of new cases has eased off slightly, we are now seeing the effects of the rise in previous weeks working their way through, as logically new infections rise first, followed by a rise in hospitalisations and then finally, the number of deaths rise, a process that usually takes 2-3 weeks.

Two weeks ago the Ministry notified a weekly total of 1,126 and last week 1,355.

The overall total of deaths last Friday was 38,833, whereas it is now 40,769, which is an increase of 1,936 on the previous week, an average of 276 a day, so a considerable rise, as was expected.

It’s important to understand that the official death count in Spain only recognises cases that have been diagnosed using a PCR test, a situation which has resulted in many deaths from coronavirus not being included in the official totals.

During the first wave of the virus for example, more than 20,000 elderly people are known to have died in care homes and residencias through coronavirus, but their deaths were never included in the official statistics, as in the first wave health resources were totally overwhelmed and there simply weren´t the PCR tests available that there are now.

The report written by the body which represents the interests of care homes stated that over 20,000 people had died within their installations, figures which had not been included in official Ministry stats, figures backed up by the statistics produced from the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Carlos III Institute which produces data known as the MoMo, both of which relate to the “excess in deaths” and are normally used to calculate flu deaths outside of the hospital system.

Statistically, there is a very stable pattern to deaths, and spikes in deaths over and above what would normally be expected, are very clear looking from a statistical perspective, so it is always very obvious when periods of heatwave have occurred or when the annual flu season peaks, as this is reflected in the number of deaths that occur throughout Spain.

There has been a significant increase this year over and above the normal death statistics, co-inciding with the coronavirus pandemic, and both sets of figures clearly reflect the “uncounted deaths”, making the “true” death toll much higher.

A similar picture is known to exist in other countries, including the UK, and although it is likely that the true number of deaths caused by covid will never be actually known, the final estimates are likely to be considerably higher than the official statistics produced by national health ministries.

In the case of Spain, the latest MoMo figures produced by the Carlos III Institute in Madrid calculate an excess of deaths of 62,988, compared to what is expected and the INE quotes 61,732 more deaths compared to 2019.

The Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo) estimates that this year there have been two periods in which more people have died than is normal: the first between March 10th and May 9th, when there were 44,592 more deaths than usual, (the official Health figure in this period was 27,291 deaths from Covid) and a second that extends from July 20th and that has not yet concluded in which 18,396 more deaths have been registered (10,424 with confirmed coronavirus taken from official Ministry stats). In total, the MoMo estimates 62,988 excess deaths during the pandemic, 28,386 more than the official figure of the ministry.

The National Institute of Statistics estimates that up to week 43 of this year (that is, the last week of October), 61,732 more people had died in Spain than in 2019. In that same period, Health reported 37,885 deaths from coronavirus, that is, 23,847 less than those estimated by the INE.

Not all of these excessive deaths are directly attributable to coronavirus, but these figures do echo the damage caused indirectly by the pandemic, such as deaths from life-threatening ailments that went untreated during the collapse of hospitals in March and April or those that would not have occurred under normal operating circumstances of the health system.

Other deaths; not all deaths in Spain at the moment are due to Covid: 80 year-old dies after eating poisoned mushrooms.

Spain has an astonishing range of mushrooms; more than 3,000 in total of which under 1,000 are potentially edible and mushrooms are an important part of the national gastronomy.

These vary throughout Spain and are regularly harvested by mushroom lovers in the autumn, but amongst the Saffron milk caps, black truffles, king trumpets, wood blewits, shaggy ink caps and dessert truffles lurk many poisonous varieties and each year there are reports of poisonings, sometimes proving fatal.Click to read full story

Pressure on hospital system:
Logically, the pressure exerted on the health system by this level of cases remains high, but the sitution has remained stable this week nationally on the general covid wards, increasing in intensive care; Two weeks ago there were 18,162 patients hospitalised with more severe cases of covid; last week the total rose to 20,239, and this Friday there are 20,296, so only a slight rise on last week of 57 patients.

Last Friday the bed occupancy was 16.30 %, this Friday it is 16.15%.

However, the pressure has increased on intensive care units, as the condition of patients worsens; The national average for ICU beds last Friday was 29.78%; this Friday it has increased to 31.75%, with 3,125 patients in a serious condition on Friday.

Image shows the rise in case numbers in Spain.

The situation in Spain today.

The seriousness of the current situation in Spain cannot be underestimated, and all of the regional governments are applying increasingly harsher measures in an attempt to bring the virus under control.

Every region has a nocturnal curfew, although the times of these do vary nationwide.

Every mainland region except Galicia, Madrid and Extremadura has closed their external regional borders, prohibiting entry to and exit from their region other than for essential purposes.

The regions of Andalusia, Murcia, Basque Country and Cantabria are also prohibiting movement between municipalities within their external borders and are imposing additional harsh restrictions, and other regions have isolated specific municipalities or cities due to their incidence and closed these specific municipal borders. The regions in which this situation exists are Asturias, La Rioja, Aragón and the Region of Valencia.

In all other regions (and those listed above) there are regional regulations, ranging from the closure of bars and restaurants, closure of shopping centres, limits on sporting and cultural activities, limits on numbers of people permitted to gather for various activities etc and limits on the opening times of various types of businesses. Every region is different and restrictions have different expiry dates all over the place, so keeping up with the constantly changing restrictions and localised border closures is very difficult and is the one major downside of the strategy of Pedro Sánchez to allow the regions to deal with their covid problem at a regional level.

Unfortunately, this does make it very confusing for those trying to visit Spain for any reason and for non-Spanish speakers to keep up with what is actually happening.

Madrid adjusts restrictions as covid situation improves a little: Click to read

Valencia region extends border closures until 20th November; Click to read

Catalunya extends bar and restaurant closures for 10 further days; Click to read

An outstanding issue is that of a total lockdown and some regions continue to pressure the national government about this topic, requesting permission to impose a total domestic lockdown. Cantabria is one of the loudest voices and has resorted to asking its residents to voluntarily self-isolate and Castilla y León is equally unhappy. The situation in Burgos is critical, with 1,800 cases per 100,000 of population and although the regional government has imposed a wide range of restrictions and border confinement, is desperate to impose a total lockdown. However, it doesn´t have that power and the national health authority continues to refuse permission for the regional government to implement this measure. Again, the regional government has requested residents to observe a voluntary lockdown, but of course businesses have no recourse should they suspend work and no mechanisms by which employees can be compensated without an official permission from the state. The national government had promised to examine the situation again next week, but remains resistent to total lockdowns.

Travel

Although the implications of covid are obviously vast, the aspect which most affects the foreign nationals actually living in Spain and those visiting the country for holiday purposes is travel. The restrictions on borders imposed by the regional governments are specifically in  place to STOP movement within the country and in most cases specifically permit travel across their borders for ESSENTIAL PURPOSES ONLY which do not include going on holiday. Foreigners currently here must abide by the border restrictions of the region they are currently in and are generally only encouraged to cross the borders in order to leave and go home.

But those who had purchased flight tickets to come to holiday homes in Spain this autumn have been finding it difficult to understand that this means they should not be coming to their holiday homes, in spite of the UK ban on travel from England valid until the 2nd December, and there have been countless examples of people still flying here and causing upset, so this week, the national Government has gone one step further and decreed that anyone coming into Spain from a country considered to be a "risk" country under the EU traffic light scheme after 23rd November, must provide a positive PCR test taken within 72 hours of travelling.

This measure comes into force in the Canary Islands from 14th November onwards and the mainland from the 23rd.

Similar measures have been in place in the airports of major capitals such as Paris, Rome, Berlin, Brussels, Athens, Amsterdam, Vienna or Moscow for several weeks, and Spanish regions have repeatedly asked the Spanish Government to implement this type of control for months, in some cases, such as that of Madrid, since the end of the state of emergency in June.

And to show that they really mean business, when the details related to fines for arriving in Spain without a recent negative PCR test certificate were published in the Official State Bulletin on Thursday, the text specified that the amounts concerned are to be between 60,001 and 600,000 euros for “very serious” offences, between 3,001 and 60,000 for those viewed as “serious” and up to 3,000 euros for minor offences.The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, has clarified that anyone arriving at a Spanish frontier, port or airport without the required documentation will immediately undergo a rapid test, and that the accompanying fine will be “serious” in order for it to act as an effective deterrent.

Already the demand for a PCR test is reducing the enthusiasm of foreign property owners for visiting Spain due to the high cost of a private PCR test and the difficulty in obtaining one, exactly what the government wanted to achieve without closing their external borders.

But of course, this makes it even more difficult for the airlines to sell tickets and all week there have been further cancellations of flights as a result.

Although Jet2 for example announced that flights to Spain would resume from 3rd December, providing the UK Govt. concludes its lockdown on the 2nd, Alicante airport for example, will have no Jet2 flights until February. Corvera airport here in Murcia is left in the unenviable position of now having no flights  during what is left of November and a schedule for December that is so sparse as to barely exist at all.

With the world’s airlines in crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic cost-cutting moves are being announced on a number of fronts, and in this context Europe’s leading low-cost flight provider Ryanair has announced that the salaries of its 2,000 staff based in Spain are to be cut by 10 per cent for the next five years.

For Ryanair the pandemic has coincided with a series of setbacks in the courts, and the effects on its employees will be even more drastic than the basic 10 per cent pay cut: when the losses of flight bonuses and other benefits are taken into account it is estimated that the reduction in their monthly income could fall by as much as 40 per cent, and trades union USO bemoans what is seen as a “substantial modification” of the conditions of employment which were under negotiation for months without any agreement being reached.

Ryanair is vocally very critical of the aid packages being offered to national airlines such as Air Europa (part of the Iberia group)  here in Spain, which has been given a 475-million-euro aid package from the Spanish government on the grounds that it is considered a “strategic business”, a decision against which Ryanair has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Justice on the grounds that it discriminates against competitors.

Other airlines are looking at ways to cut costs. An interesting little story this week relates to flagship carrier British Airways, which is taking a long-term view on the potential demand for the next few months and has taken the decision to move part of its Airbus A380 fleet to Spain to overwinter in storage in Madrid, Teruel, and on the island of Mallorca.

No official reason has been given, but it’s believed to be an economic decision; potentially maintenance may be cheaper through the IAG connection or simply that parking costs are cheaper in Spain!

Most of the A380s in the BA fleet have been parked at the Chateauroux Centre Marcel Dassault Airport in France, only flying back to the UK for maintenance and it is believed that as many as 60 to 70 of BA’s aircraft will be over-wintering in Spain. “World of Aviation” reports that most of the fleet stand little chance of reincorporation until at least early-to-mid 2021, although BA is currently denying that it plans to scrap any of the A380 fleet. Other planes may be scrapped; several A320s the most likely casualties in the months to come.

 Silent travel recommended on public transport to reduce the risk of contagion from Covid-19:

For months scientists have been investigating the topic of “aerosol transmission” and have now proven beyond any doubt that covid can be transmitted by exhalation from our lungs in tiny particles, via the air we expel, actions such as coughing, sneezing, singing, shouting and even talking propelling the tiny drops of moisture in which covid can travel, further, thus increasing the risk of transmission.

Renfe has now recommended to passengers using trains in Catalunya that they should travel in silence in all the wagons of its trains to minimize the risk of contagion of Covid-19 through the particles that remain suspended in the air when speaking, following the recommendations of the Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (ATM) of Catalonia. In a tweet, the ATM has asked for passengers to travel in silence in "the subway, the tram, the train and the bus" as an anti-Covid measure, so that public transport is safer.

41 per cent improvement in air quality across Spain attributed to coronavirus lockdown restrictions:Reduced travel brings about lower ozone and nitrogen dioxide levels, say Ecologistas en Acción.The improvement has come about due in large part to fewer harmful exhaust gases being emitted as a consequence of the restrictions on travel imposed since the spring, and the report finds that air quality in Spain has improved by an average of 41 per cent. Despite this, though, at least 36 million of the country’s 47.4-million population continue to breathe contaminated air due to the concentration of human activity in large cities. Click to read full report

Vaccines:

News that the Pfizer vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 ( click to read) Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has 90 per cent effectivity says pharmaceutical giant has obviously resulted in considerable discussion this week about the imminent prospect of a vaccine here in Spain.

Health Minister says Spain will have a vaccine for 10 million people by early 2021.Spanish Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, said on Tuesday that news that the vaccine of the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech is "90% effective", is an "important, promising and relevant step", although at the same time he urged against over-optimism, saying that "there are still difficult months" ahead and it is not advisable to "lower our guard."

The Minister stated that the EU will close a contract with BioNTech / Pfizer and other companies for the distribution of antidotes against covid "this week or next week" and, from there, Spain "calculates" that by early 2021, 20 million doses of Pfizer's antigen would be delivered to the country, which will "immunize about 10 million people," as two injections are required to achieve protection.So far the European Commission has also entered into negotiations with the companies CureVac and Moderna while it has signed contracts with three other pharmaceutical companies: AstraZeneca, for 300 million doses, Sanofi-GSK, for another 300 million doses, and with Johnson & Johnson, for 200 million doses, Spain being a part of this mass-buying programme.

However, there are worries amongst the public that the speed at which a vaccine is being created for covid could lead to problems for the first to take it, and of course, there is already an anti-vaccine campaign on social media.

The Minister expressed his determination not to allow a similar type of mis-information campaign such as that which influenced so many people in the early days of the covid pandemic to stop the vulnerable being vaccinated: "We are going to be clear and forceful with the people who tell lies and who play anti-science, we are not going to tolerate it," the minister said about the anti-vaccine movement.

Only one in ten Spaniards keen to vaccinate against Coronavirus immediately: a survey carried out by Ipsos suggests that only 13 per cent of Spaniards would be keen to receive jabs immediately they become available.This makes Spain the second most reticent country in Europe in terms of embracing the vaccine, although on the other hand around 60 per cent more of the population would be happy to receive it after waiting a year – presumably, in order to verify that no unpleasant side effects are suffered by those who take the plunge first!

The main reason cited by Spaniards for taking this cautious approach is the speed with which clinical testing is being performed.

The Ipsos survey was carried out in 15 countries and concluded that 73 per cent of people would prefer to receive the vaccine sooner or later (22 per cent immediately), while in Spain the overall total is just 64 per cent. On the other hand, only 3 per cent of Spaniards were found to reject all vaccinations on priniciple.

Spain confident of being ready to store coronavirus vaccines at -70ºC. The possible problem with the Pfizer vaccine is that it is one of the two vaccines currently in the third phase of testing which use genetic material from the virus itself, and requires temperatures of -70ºC to store it. During the week the WHO suggested that this could cause problems for some countries but Spanish authorities, including those in Murcia, have immediately responded saying that Spain is very well equipped and has plenty of facilities able to store the volume required by the vaccine. Click to read

Other covid-reated news:

Coronavirus study identifies the symptoms most commonly associated with fatalities. This is an interesting study as it analyses the symptoms of covid and has identified that certain combinations of symptoms consistently lead to similar outcomes. The conclusion reached by the SEMI is that the prognosis is worst for patients whose only symptoms are coughing, fever and dyspnea (difficulty in breathing), while those who complain of symptoms similar to those of a common cold and a loss of smell and taste are more likely to come through the infection more rapidly and with less treatment required. Click to read the full article

It's amazing how much information can be gathered by analysing faecal waters in the sewage networks of Spain: Sewage analysis shows increased use of ecstasy during lockdown in Spain.It also revealed that Catalans and the Basque population drink more alcohol than anywhere else! Click to read

Spain to slash VAT on face masks from 21 to 4 per cent.Disposable masks are an environmental timebomb, taking up to 400 years to decompose and we're consuming millions every week. Considerable pressure has been brought to bear on the Spanish government over the last couple of months due to face masks being significantly more expensive in this country than in some other European nations, and in response it was announced on Wednesday that the rate of VAT charged on the products, which have of course become essential to members of the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, is to be cut from 21 per cent to 4 per cent, reducing the price of masks sold in pharmacies from 96 cents to 72. In reality, masks are now being sold by most supermarket chains at considerably lower prices than those sold by pharmacies for 0.96 cents, with most of the public opting for the more economical models, due to the necessity of wearing masks in public at all times.

Murcia covid.

On Friday 16th October the Murcia Region had 27,381 cases. On Friday 23rd October the reported figure was 31,378, on Friday 30th this figure had risen to 36,601, by Friday  6th November the total had reached 42,088 and this Friday the total had climbed to 47,948.

So this is a rise in the total number of cases of 5,860 in the last 7 days (compared to a rise of 5,223 two weeks ago and 5,487 last week).

It's still a significant figure, but towards the latter part of the week the daily totals had started to drop from the figures reported last week and the regional health authority was talking optimistically about a deceleration in the rate of increase. This is a rather tentative ray of optimism, as the weekly figures are still climbing, but does give some hope that the rate of new contagions is starting to slow down a little as the confinement measures take effect.

Number of new cases in the last 7 and 14 days by municipality:
Note, the first figure shown is the actual number of cases diagnosed in the last 7 days, the second is the total in the last 14 days:
Abanilla 28/38( This means 28 cases in the last 7 days and 38 cases in 14 days)
Abarán 16/58
Águilas 21/65
Albudeite 10/26
Alcantarilla 217/443
Aledo 8/18
Los Alcázares 74/133
Alguazas 30/92
Alhama de Murcia 159/298
Archena 85/238
Beniel 31/61
Blanca 44/76
Bullas 30/70
Calasparra 27/53
Campos del Río 11/19
Caravaca de la Cruz 297/490
Cartagena 339/780
Cehegín 123/219
Ceutí 52/123
Cieza 107/224
Fortuna 53/88
Fuente Álamo 96/193
Jumilla 144/319
Librilla 26/45
Lorca 232/478
Lorquí 12/31
Mazarrón 87/174
Molina de Segura 151/416
Moratalla 62/143
Mula 54/94
Murcia 1760/3684
Ojós 0
Pliego 5/14
Puerto Lumbreras 60/94
Ricote 1/18
San Javier 118/306
San Pedro del Pinatar 79/186
Santomera 23/59
Torre Pacheco 149/337
Las Torres de Cotillas 75/382
Totana 208/512
Ulea 1/3
La Unión 56/107
Villanueva del Río Segura 12/43
Yecla 315/516
Those from other regions diagnosed in Murcia 102
Total 5590 . Acumulated AI rate in the last 7 days: 374. IA rate for the last 14 days 781.

As is the situation nationally, the knock-on effect of high cases is an increase in hospitalisations and deaths, and we're seeing that clearly here in Murcia.

Hospitalisations:
The number of patients hospitalised has been slowly increasing; 2 weeks ago it was 514, last week 595 and by the end of this week had reached 626. There are now 104 patients in intensive care, an increase of 8 patients from the same point last week.

Fatalities
Last week there were 74 deaths and this week there have been 85, 14 of them on Friday.

Unfortunately this last total on Friday pushed the fatalities count past the 450 mark, which is significant as during the whole of the first wave of the pandemic which concluded with the end of the state of emergency on 21st June, the region had only reported 150 deaths, so the region has now officially registered more than double the amount reported in the whole of the first wave in this second wave. And more will follow; the total today is another 14 fatalities to start off the figures for next week.

Image; Pcr tests top and fatalities below

Accumulated incidence rate.
The rate per 100,000 head of population across the region is measured across 14 and 7 days, the 7 days total giving a more accurate picture of how the virus has evolved within the last 7 day period and the 14 day incidence giving a broader sweep of the situation, giving a clearer picture of whether the rate in the last 7 days has increased. The current rate for the whole of the region is 781 cases per 100,000 habitantes over 14 days (only a marginal rise from the 778 of last week) and 374 in the last 7 days( a fall from the 393 of last week reflecting a lower incidence of cases at the end of this week). To reiterate yet again, 25 cases per 100,000 is the level we are aiming for, so at the moment the situation in the Murcia region is bad and the region is viewed by the national health ministry as being at a “high risk “ level. Nationally, Murcia lies in 6th highest position of the 17 autonomous regions.

As is the case nationally, there is significant local variation between municipalities.
The 4 municipalities with the highest rates in the region are all in the north and north-west of the region and in each case, the outbreaks which are the pushing up the figures of the four relate to social gatherings and were entirely avoidable. Caravaca de la Cruz has a rate of 1153 per 100,000, Yecla 914, Cehegín 820, Moratalla 790, Aledo 782,Albudeite 728, Alhama de Murcia 720, Blanca 672 and then three municipalities which had significant outbreaks earlier and are yet again seeing their figures climb; Fuente Álamo with 578, Totana with 649 and Jumilla with 562.

At the bottom of the list are Ojós with zero, Águilas with 59, Ricote with 79, Ulea 114, Abarán with 123, Pliego 130, Santomera 141, Cartagena 157 and Lorquí 168. All other municipalities rate over 200.

Restrictions in Murcia

The situation in Murcia remains the same as last week; the external regional border is closed, and movement between municipalities is not allowed other than for essential reasons. Bars and restaurants are closed for a further week. Masks must be worn at all times when outside of the house (other than when jogging or other minor exceptions) and gatherings of more than 6 people are not permitted.There are significant fines for non-compliance.

This weekend the national government has intensified the number of police patrols enforcing the measures following complaints from the Murcian regional government and municipal councils that they are finding it impossible to police the municipal borders closure due to lack of local resource;Murcia regional president wants army and more police to enforce border restrictions.

The regional government itself does not have the mandate to control the traffic police or "bring in the army"; these are the competence of the national government, and local police are funded and run by each local council, so although the regional government has decreed that borders must be closed, it actually lacks the manpower to enforce this. López Miras recognizes that some municipal mayors of the Region have complained in videoconferences and in the regional media that they are finding it impossible to police the perimeter controls of their municipalities. "It is logical that, with their local police staff, they do not have enough personnel to carry out these perimeter controls," he admitted.

It's an open secret that although residents are not supposed to be moving around between the 45 local municipalities within the region, that there is in reality very little chance of actually encountering a roadblock or a police patrol should residents cross from one municipality to another, certainly during the week, so this weekend, more police will be visible on roads, trying to stop residents of the cities driving to second homes on the coast and to clamp down on any attempts to undertake social gatherings.

There have been problems in the capital city this week again with protests against the curfew, although these have "gone underground" so instead of large groups protesting, youths have been setting fire to bins and cars instead. There have been several incidents this week and although three lads were arrested at the weekend for setting bins on fire, the incidents have contInued.

The other major issue which has been rumbling on all week in Murcia is that relating to the closure of bars and restaurants as although aid of between 3,000 and 10,000 has been agreed for all of those forced to close, there are many who view this as insufficient and their cause has been joined by taxidrivers and other ancillary businesses affected by the closure who also want compensation (such as those who launder tablecloths or supply wine and ingredients to the sector).

Click to read full article: 3,000 to 10,000 euros in compensation for bars and restaurants forced to close in Murcia Region

Ignoring the pleas of the minister for Health in the Murcia government, thousands of residents flocked to the bars on Friday evening to enjoy a last evening of conviviality and to show support for their local watering holes and restaurants, and the following day noisy and well-supported protests were staged by the owners of the establishments affected in Cartagena and elsewhere in the Region. The regional health minister was very angry about this and on Monday issued a statement advising anyone who did go out on Friday night to keep away from the elderly as the risk of transmission is very high.

As the week moved on, the Murcian City hostelry sector quietened down and accepted what they had been offered graciously, but in Cartagena the mood is much more militant and there have been sit-down protests as well as marches, also involving the taxi drivers. The council has responded by opening an office to help process the claims for compensation, and encouraging restaurants to use the taxis for home deliveries, but there is still a high level of dis-satisfaction amongst the sector.

There is absolutely no denying that those running hostelry businesses deserve support and many people are missing them, but at the same time many other businesses are suffering similarly dire financial straits; it has been said by some local business owners that they would prefer to be forced to close down for this period and given some form of financial support rather than struggle on with reduced staffing, a collapse in income and hardly any customers because nobody can cross municipal borders, yet must still pay full rent, rates, social security contributions, insurance, lighting and other costs in full.

Obviously the national and regional governments cannot hand over an envelope full of cash to every business in the country without borrowing money which will have to be paid back somehow by the public over many years to come, but at least those in the hostelry sector are fortunate to have been offered some sort of compensation for this 2 week period of closure, which the rest of us haven´t!.

The one inevitability in this crisis is the economic follow-on and although business activity will pick-up again, for the moment many businesses are being forced to make hard decisions. This week there was a spike in Murcia ERTE furlough scheme applications following bar and restaurant closures and the figures are expected to continue to rise as the forced closure affects some 9,000 hostelries and around 35,000 employees, as well as 12,000 more people whose livelihoods are indirectly affected. Click to read

On Friday the Hilton Hotel on the La Torre Golf Resort announced that it would be closing until the beginning of March next year; more employees heading for the ERTE list.

The region is still experiencing the effects of the last major economic crisis which occurred when the property market collapsed in 2010 and most of the major residential property developers in the region gradually slid into bankruptcy, amongst them, Polaris World.

Murcia property market showed signs of a bounceback before the second wave of Covid. It goes without saying that the statistics relating to the residential property markets in Murcia and in Spain as a whole this year have been distorted hugely by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but in September, when the country was largely free from restrictions on movement before the second wave of contagion gathered momentum, the number of homes bought and sold throughout the country was only 1.1 per cent lower than in the same month last year.

At the same time, Murcia was one of the regions where the year-on-year comparison actually showed an increase, rising by 1.7 per cent to a monthly total of 1,574, and the average of 136 sales per 100,000 inhabitants of house-buying age was the highest in any of Spain’s 17 Autonomous Communities. Click for full article

Other articles Murcia:

Drugs at the heart of Moratalla murder; Three arrested as body is found buried in Yecla.

Almost a year and a half after he disappeared, the body of a 35-year-old man from Moratalla was discovered this week, buried in the mountains of the Sierra de Raspay in the municipality of Yecla, in the north of the Region of Murcia.

José Alonso Marín, known to his acquaintances as “El Rosao”, was last seen alive on 17th June 2019, and his abrupt disappearance was quickly linked to drug trafficking activity. Almost immediately there was generalized speculation that he had been murdered and the case was treated as being of high risk by the Guardia Civil, and now the suspicions of those who knew the victim have been borne out, as has their reluctance to supply any more information for fear of reprisals.Click to read full story

11 tons of fresh veg for Murcian regional food bank after drugs are found in transport lorry

11 tons of fresh vegetables have been added to the produce distributed by the Region of Murcia’s food bank in La Palma, one of the rural outlying districts of the municipality of Cartagena, after the Policía Nacional discovered a stash of marijuana concealed in the truck in which they were being transported.

8,000 kilos of tomatoes and 3,000 kilos of courgettes will be distributed among some 20 social help organizations and then to families in need in the Region after the police searched the truck in Sangonera la Verde, not far south of the city of Murcia, on Tuesday. The produce had been grown in the neighbouring region of Andalucía, and it has been established that it was being used as a front for a group which planned to smuggle 250 kilos of marijuana and 50 kilos of hashish resin into central Europe. Click to read full article

292 procedures against agricultural concerns illegally drilling into the Campo de Cartagena aquifer:

Throughout the summer of 2020 the CHS water infrastructures administration body in the Region of Murcia and the rest of the Segura basin has continued the task of examining all of the potentially illegal irrigation in the agricultural concerns in the Campo de Cartagena in order to identify and punish the unauthorized use of water from the aquifer beneath the crop fields, and the latest report made public by the Ministry for Ecological Transition specifies that a total of 292 procedures have been initiated in relation to 2,157 hectares of farmland since 2018.

 

This is important as the underlying cause of the problems in the Mar Menor is agricultural run-off, and the nitrates it carries, the base of the problem having been that agriculturalists drilled illegal wells to extract additional water to use for irrigation, the huge scale of the activity contaminating the vast water aquifer lying beneath the Campo de Cartagena. Identifying these illegal wells, closing them down, fining those concerned and limiting the future use of agricultural chemicals close to the Mar Menor an essential part of the work to better care for the lagoon. Click to read full article.

 

Los Alcázares promotes plan to better manage feral cat colonies. Click to read

 

Woman almost drowned saving her dog from irrigation channel in Murcia. Click to read

 

35 kilogram red sunfish found dead on Calblanque beach. Click to read

Turtles:

Murcian young loggerhead turtles tracked to African and Balearic coastlines.

It is now a month since twenty-one 12-month-old loggerhead turtles were released into the Mediterranean at one of the beaches of Calblanque in the municipality of Cartagena, having hatched from their eggs in the late summer of 2019 and become the first of their species to begin life in the Region of Murcia for over a century.

Satellite transmitters were fitted to several of the young turtles to try and track their progress and follow them as far as possible to ascertain just where these turtles travel to during the first few months of their new lives in the wild.

Despite weighing only 1 kilo when they were released, the young turtles clearly relished the prospect of exploring the open sea after a year in care at the Oceanográfic in Valencia and at the Imida centre in San Pedro del Pinatar, and travelled over 300 kilometres in their first two days of freedom with the help of marine currents.

The most adventurous of the young turtles so far have been Argonauta, Caretto and Bobico, names selected from those suggested by the 40 volunteers who have been monitoring the presence of loggerhead turtles on the beaches of the Costa Cálida. Argonauta and Caretto have both reached the coast of Algeria, the former currently being close to Tunisia, while Bobico travelled first to northern Africa before heading back north to the south of Mallorca. Click here to read the full article

 

Galician fishermen design devices to save turtles caught by longline boats

The fishermen worked with a local blacksmith to design two devices which could save the lives of sea turtles.

After taking a first aid course to help the post-capture survival of turtles accidentally caught during longline fishing, the longliner fishermen of A Guarda in Galicia decided to create special tools to try and minimise the risk of mortality when accidentally catching turtles on longlines whilst hauling in the catch.

A local blacksmith made the first prototypes and before the end of this year all the ships of the organization will have their two “turtle rescuers” on board.

This initiative was the result of a course given in 2018 by the Catalan environmental organization Submon aimed at mitigating the effects of these unwanted catches.

In this workshop, Mariluz Parga, a veterinarian with a Master in Wild Animal Conservation from the NGO Submon non-profit organisation, taught first aid and proper techniques for the extraction of hooks and subsequent release of the turtles and explained that the most dangerous moment was when the turtles were hauled up by the line from the water. This made the fishermen think and, after learning about initiatives being taken by other fleets such as the North American one that fishes in the banks of Newfoundland, they decided to design their own “turtle rescuers”, adapted to the particularities of a longline boat and to the different sizes of turtle that are usually encountered during fishing here in Spain. Click to read full article

Other Spanish news:

Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime and Disney TV face 5 per cent docking of Spanish revenue to fund European cinema.

A new law being proposed in Spain will, if passed, oblige pay-per-view video entertainment suppliers to contribute 5 per cent of the turnover they generate in this country to the financing of European cinema projects, affecting companies such as Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime and Disney TV.

The “Law of Audiovisual Communication”, the draft of which has been made public in order for suggestions and proposed amendments to be submitted between now and 3rd December, clarifies that the funding may be either for films or for series, and that when the 5 per cent is applied to any company generating revenue in Spain of at least 50 million euros per year then at least 70 per cent of the contribution must be to audiovisual projects in one of the official languages of this country.One of the aims of this legislation is to introduce for these companies fiscal obligations which are similar to those already imposed on traditional television channels in this country and also increase the amount of original Spanish language content available on the channels. Click to read full article

 New Spanish road traffic regulations penalise mobile phone users and lower urban speed restrictions

A new package of road traffic measures approved by the Council of Ministers, at its meeting on Tuesday, are set to tighten restrictions and increase the penalties for those committing infractions whilst driving in Spain.Click to read full article

The Ministry of Interior will increase the points to be deducted for driving whilst holding mobile phone devices from 3 to 6 points and increase the points lost for failing to enforce child safety measures, from 3 to 4 for not using a seat belt, child restraint systems and other protective elements.In addition, it explicitly incorporates the misuse of these elements as justification for a fine (for example, not wearing a safety helmet or not fastening a seat-belt).

Carrying radar detectors classified as a serious offence
Carrying detection mechanisms in a vehicle which warn against traffic radars is now classified as a serious offense, which will entail a fine of 500 euros and the loss of 3 points.

New limits on urban roads
In the same sitting, the Council of Ministers has approved a royal decree that modifies both the General Traffic Regulation and the General Vehicle Regulation in relation to urban traffic.

This redefines the general speed limits on urban roads (article 50) according to their different classification: on roads that have a single carriageway and raised pavement, the limit will be 20 km / h; on roads which have a single lane for each direction of traffic, 30 km / h; and on roads with two or more lanes per traffic direction, it will continue to be 50 km / h.

These limits will not apply until six months after their publication in the Official State Gazette, so that drivers have sufficient time to be adequately informed about the changes and so that public administrations have sufficient time to adapt the signage.

Canary Island resources overwhelmed as more than 2,000 irregular migrants arrive over the weekend

2,029 migrants in 49 boats arrived in a non-stop stream over the weekend

Local residents protested in the streets for the second weekend running

Some 1,800 people spent the night under canvas in the Arguineguín Pier (Gran Canaria) on Sunday after a weekend of relentless pressure on emergency services as boatload after boatload of irregular migrants headed for the islands.

Between 00.00 on Saturday to 00.00 on Monday, 2,029 migrants in a total of 49 boats arrived, making this the weekend in which more migrants have arrived since the “crisis of the cayucos” in 2006, the year that 39,180 people managed to enter Europe via the islands. Since then, the numbers have fallen, reaching their lowest point in 2017 when only 423 migrants arrived, but after 2017 the figures once again resumed an upward trajectory; in 2018 the figure was 1,266; in 2019 the figure grew to 2,200 and prior to this weekend 11,500 had arrived so far in 2020, to which must now be added the 2,029 who made the journey on Saturday and Sunday.

Throughout the week these boats have continued to arrive; this morning (Saturday 14th) a further 419 people were rescued in 18 boats and the scale of the problem continues to grow, the island lacking sufficient resources to house this huge number of migrants.

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