Murcia Today Weekly Bulletin 3rd July

This week the tourism season has begun, and no-one is under any illusions that the season is going to be complicated here in Spain as uncertainty continues to cloud the issue of flights and Covid refuses to back down.

It's been a baking hot week, and although this has brought a smile to the face of cocktail shakers along the costas, it's also been exhausting for emergency services fighting the first outbreaks of summer fires and those who must contunue to disinfect the streets in nearly 40 degrees of heat....

Spain Covid this week:

Monday; 84 new cases, 3 deaths Click here

Tuesday; 99 new cases, 9 deaths Click here

Wednesday; 149 new cases, 8 deaths Click here

Thursday; 134 new cases, 5 deaths Click here

Friday; 174 new cases, 17 deaths

The first weekend of July is traditionally the first big weekend for families from the cities to head en-masse to the coast for their summer holidays, and in spite of the national Ministry of Health insisting on Thursday that the pandemic is “under control” and its evolution is "really good", the recent increase in figures “due to the fact that the detection capacity is much higher because many more tests are being carried out than before”, there are concerns that the migration to the coast may increase cases nationwide once again.

There have been a series of outbreaks in the last two weeks across Spain (now up to 67with outbreaks in 15 of the 17 autonomous regions although the Health Ministry maintains that all are under control) which have pushed the figure back up to levels of new cases last seen in mid-June when the pandemic was losing velocity in Spain.

In the last 24 hours there have been 174 new positives, compared to 134 on Thursday, bringing the number of people infected with Covid-19 since the pandemic began up to 250,545.

By region the new cases break down as follows (new figures are in brackets)

Andalusia, 13,205 (+9); Aragon 6,412 (+31); Asturias 2,435; Balearic Islands 2,228 (+1); Canary Islands 2,436 (+1); Cantabria 2,364; Castilla-La Mancha 18,209 (+8); Castilla y León 19,753;Catalonia 62,057 (+42 ); Ceuta 163; Valencian Community 11,630 (+7); Extremadura 3,047 (+7); Galicia 9,251 (+11); Madrid 72,168 (+50); Melilla 126; Murcia 1,697 (+3); Navarra 5,477 (+1); Basque Country, 13,809 (+3); and in La Rioja 4,078.

The 'cumulative incidence', ie the number of cases diagnosed per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, has increased more than one point in the last ten days, to stand at 8.76.

17 deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours, and 21 during the last seven days, bringing the total deaths to 28,385.

Total deaths for the last seven days; Andalusia (2), Castilla-La Mancha (2), Castilla y León (4), Catalonia (2), Madrid (7), Basque Country (3) and La Rioja (1).

The number of active outbreaks in Spain is now 42. However, only a dozen clusters are said to be “of interest" to the Health Ministry because of their size, continued expansion or origin.

Madrid reported its first major outbreak since the state of emergency ended today, the source of which is believed to be a "work environment" although its name or location are not being provided by the authorities.

5 cases have been detected, all of them mild, and a further 18 close contacts (12 family and social contacts of the infected and six other employees of the firm) are in home quarantine.

Among the most worrying clusters are still those declared among groups of temporary agricultural workers in the provinces of Huesca and Lleida, which have more than 400 positives. Yesterday the regional government there erected a field hospital, next to the most important medical center in the city of Lleida, to cope with the rising number of cases.

Region of Murcia:

Monday; 58 active cases Click here

Tuesday; 65 active cases, 4 new positives Click here

Wednesday; 68 active cases, six new positives Click here

Thursday; 70 active cases, 1 death bringing the total up to 151, 2 new positives

Friday; 73 active cases, no deaths

It was announced this week that the only hospiatals in the region which will now attend Covid patients are the Virgen de la Arrixaca in Murcia and the Santa Lucía in Cartagena as by Friday there was only one intensive care patient in the region and just 12 other patients hospitalised.

This week the Covid situation in the Murcia has changed significantly not due to cases being reported amongst the general population, but due principally to two outbreaks and a number of new cases originating with illegal immigrants arriving on the Murcian coastline in "pateras" or small boats from the African Continent.

The two outbreaks relate to two different flights, although both came from Bolivia, which arrived in Madrid on the 3rd and 10th June.

The planes landed at Barajas airport in Madrid, which has continued to operate flights throughout the Covid crisis, passengers respecting the strict travel criteria that only those resident in Spain would be permitted to land here. All of those involved in these two outbreaks are Bolivian nationals, now resident in Spain, with the full right to return to their country of principal residence, which is Spain. All passengers on the flights are obliged to quarantine at home for 14 days.

There is a large south-American population working and resident here in the Murcia Region, historically working in the agricultural sector, although obviously there are many of south-American descent who now work across a range of sectors (some running excellent bars and restaurants serving authentic and excellent south-American food).

The plane which arrived on the 10th June brought several cases to Torre Pacheco, but the principal problem has been the first plane from June 10th on which four passengers who stopped off first in Granada, before travelling onward to Murcia had travelled. Three of them later tested positive for covid, but not before sparking off an outbreak amongst their own contacts, which then spread into the outlying Murcian district of El Raal, home to one of two fruit and veg packing plants owned by frozen foods exporter Fruveco, which has one of the largest refrigerated warehouses in Europe and has plants in El Raal and Alhama de Murcia.

It is believed that the cold conditions inside food processing storage units could potentially help the virus to spread; a similar situation has occurred in the huge German meat factory case, another meat factory in Valencia and several incidents in the UK. As a result, the decision was taken to temporarily close the El Raal installations to minimise the risk of the virus spreading to other employees.

All of the workers of the plant have been quarantined and the number of cases related to the outbreak steadily increased all week, reaching 37 on Friday (more than 150 are quarantined in different areas of Spain relating to this case). Unfortunately, the one death in the region this week was also related to this outbreak, a 98 year old woman in Moratalla, in the north-west of the region dying as a result of a contact; the first death in the region since June 9th.

The second problem has been the arrival of illegal immigrants from the African Continent bringing Covid with them, which has also pushed up the number of new cases. This became a controversial and complex topic as the week went on, mainly because the Migrant Transit Centres in which irregular immigrants are usually housed while attempts are made to return them are all closed as Morocco and Algeria have closed their own borders, and the regional government and national government spent the week arguing about where those that need to be quarantined should be housed. Locals in residential areas where they were temporarily held were upset by their presence and it wasn't until Friday afternoon that agreement was finally reached. By that time 8 of those who arrived this week had tested positive.

The article below is the full article written this afternoon which explains the complexities of what is happening here, but it's not just a problem here in Murcia, the same thing is happening all along the coast:

Migrant transit centres are temporarily closed so the Spanish government has no mechanism by which to repatriate those reaching Spanish soil illegally in small boats

During the state of alarm decreed by the coronavirus crisis, at least 2,545 migrants have irregularly entered Spain, of which 2,384 (94%) arrived by sea.

Illegal immigrants attempting to enter Spain in “pateras” or small boats, is a regular occurrence along the Spanish coast, migrants choosing the shorter routes across from the African coast via Morocco arriving in the various provinces of Andalucía, from Algeria and landing in Andalucía, Valencia region and the Murcia Region, or the longer routes from Algeria to the Balearic islands and a fourth across to the Canary Islands. All attempts are made to intercept the boats out at sea by the Spanish coastguard, which undertakes a major vigilance operation to prevent the pateras arriving undetected and their occupants disappearing off into the Spanish countryside.

All those intercepted are brought into Spanish ports, their medical condition assessed and the migrants taken to migrant transit centres(CIE) where they are temporarily held whilst attempts are made to repatriate them to their country of origin; 45 days is the maximum time permitted for this process, after which, if they cannot be repatriated, the Spanish government is obliged to release them onto Spanish soil. On average, only 36% of repatriation cases are successful.

The migrants are not given residency rights and are not allowed to work legally, which means that some end up being exploited or earning money illegally, and others continue their journey on to other European countries, France or Belgium where there are large established communities of migrants (and some trying to reach the UK) and other destinations.

The onset of the Covid crisis initially halted the flow of migrants, as both Algeria and Morocco closed their own external borders, but whilst this has the effect of limiting the number of migrants from entering via the African Continent, it also prevents the Spanish authorities from repatriating migrants who have successfully reached Spain.

Irregular migrants are normally held in a migrant transit centre for the 45 day period, but these were all closed during the state of emergency as the authorities could not repatriate the migrants. Algeria and Morocco are still closed off, so the centres in turn, remain closed.

But this hasn´t stopped the mafias who earn millions transporting irregular travellers across to Spain. In Morocco confinement of the Moroccan population is very strict, so very few boats are reaching the provinces of Cádiz, Málaga or Granada, but boats from Algeria are more numerous, reaching the coast of Almería, Murcia and the Balearic Islands, their numbers growing as word spreads that the Spanish Authorities cannot hold or repatriate those who reach Spain.

There are believed to be thousands of would-be migrants waiting for their chance to make the journey across into Europe, living in hidden encampments, and these have not escaped the Covid crisis which has engulfed the world, so recently, a number of the migrants reaching Spanish soil are testing Covid positive.

During the state of alarm decreed by the coronavirus crisis, at least 2,545 migrants have irregularly accessed Spain, of which 2,384 (94%) arrived by sea, according to data from the Interior Ministry. Most of them (1,412) arrived by boat on the shores of the Canary Islands.

Although the Covid cases in Spain have been largely brought under control by a strict lockdown, there have recently been a number of outbreaks, some of which are being attributed to illegal immigration, such as that of Navalmoral de la Mata (Cáceres), or that of a Red Cross reception center in Malaga.

In the case of Navalmoral de la Mata (Cáceres) a migrant who had arrived in Almería on 24th May had been transferred to a Red Cross centre in Cáceres along with a larger group of around 50 migrants, none of whom had been tested. Some of the other migrants who arrived in the same boat had been sent to Soria, and it was here that one of them tested positive for Covid. It wasn´t until five days after the migrants had been moved that the Cáceres authorities were informed that a positive had been found in Soria, and were warned to test all of those distributed amongst six houses for Covid, 20 of whom were found to be positive, having been in close contact with the “patient zero”. He walked out of the house and into the community and a search warrant had to be issued to track him down and bring him back into quarantine, sparking extreme concern in the local community.

In Málaga there were 103 cases at the Red Cross welcome centre, the origin believed to have been an aid worker who caught the virus whilst volunteering in the Canary Islands and who subsequently sparked off a major outbreak amongst staff at the centre in Málaga and many of the migrants the centre was sheltering.

The Canary Island of Fuerteventura only had two positives between April 23rd and June 17th, when an inflatable boat arrived from El Aaiún (Western Sahara) with 14 positive cases on board. And four days later, another boat came from the same port with 11 others.

And these are not isolated cases, there are many more, including our own in Murcia, which have this week caused a major stand-off between our regional government and the national government with several days of arguing, as well as causing upset amongst local residents in the locations in which they are being housed.

On Monday this week 7 Algerians reached Águilas in a small boat, two of them testing positive for Covid-19. They were put into quarantine and temporarily housed in an encampment alongside the Guardia Civíl installation in Águilas, provided by Cruz Roja. Four cases were also detected amongst 108 migrants who arrived in a dozen small boats at the weekend and were taken into Cartagena, adding to the one case detected earlier in the same week, from a separate boat arrival in Águilas.

In that case, 23 police officers were quarantined after coming in contact with the first individual.On Tuesday it was reported that the 14 year old Covid-positive who had arrived in the first boat in Águilas and was being monitored in the Rafael Méndez hospital in Lorca, had tried to leave the hospital, causing distress for other patients and staff. The patient, who doesn´t speak Spanish, was described as “having caused damage in the hospital and being in a highly anxious state”, and although he didn´t succeed in escaping the hospital, staff later expressed their concern about the situation, saying that the “hospital is not a jail.”

Of the 108 migrants who arrived last weekend, the four positives were taken to hospital, whilst the remainder were located in temporary accommodation by the Cruz Roja and the Fundación Cepaim (which works to help refugees and migrants). Eight people, close contacts of the positive cases were put in quarantine.

At this point, the calls to find suitable accommodation intensified, the Mayoress of Cartagena meeting with the Government Delegate to the Region of Murcia (the highest representative of the Spanish state in the region who looks after the interests of the national Government, such as the Guardia Civíl, prisons, coast guard and government-run bodies), José Vélez to “insist” that the national Government provide more resource to help control the arrival of the pateras and resolve the issue of what happens once migrants reach these shores.

The Government Delegate wrote to the Murcian regional government requesting that the region provide accommodation for the migrants as the state-run migrant centre at Santomera (CIE) was closed. He stated in his letter that the same locations that had been used by the regional government to house the homeless during the state of emergency would be perfectly suitable for the purpose, (there were several problems at one of these locations in Mazarrón after the residents rioted on two occasions and unsettled locals).

However, the regional Minister of Health, Manuel Villegas, responded that the Delegation should have sufficient means for this itself and "if you do not have the capacity, you should ask for help".

By this point on Thursday, some of the migrants had endured the unpleasant experience of being heckled by residents of Los Nietos, where six immigrants were temporarily housed in calle Mújol, in a property owned by Cáritas. Rumours had spread that these were Covid positives, and there was a risk that locals could be infected. There were even rumours that one of the young men had escaped, and frightened residents gathered in the streets when cars came to transfer them to a Red Cross centre in Murcia on Thursday afternoon, heckling and shouting, as police separated them from the migrants. On Friday the president of the resident association said that the residents were not "racist" but "frightened" and had not been given any information.

In Murcia city residents in the district of la Fama where nine migrants who are close contacts of those who have tested positive and who had arrived in Cartagena were being housed in a property owned by Cruz Roja were also concerned, upset by the presence of two police cars and guard in the street outside the property in a residential area where the young men were being quarantined.

It was stressed that the young men were not being arrested, but simply offered a roof over their heads as they had nowhere else to go until they had completed a quarantine period and had not tested positive.

The Government Delegate issued a press statement on Thursday evening explaining that he could only hold any irregular migrants for 72 hours, as the only mechanism by which they can be detained for a further 45 days is the issuing of a judicial order for repatriation, after which they must be sent to the migrant transit centres, which are closed.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, it was announced that an agreement had been reached between the regional government, Government Delegate and Cruz Roja to temporarily house migrants who either tested positive or had been in close contact with others who had tested positive for a 14 day quarantine period.

Cruz Roja would undertake to house the migrants and the regional government would supply additional accommodation as required, with assistance and vigilance by the Policia Nacional.

The regional government stated that although illegal migration was the competence of the national Government, they were extremely concerned at the prospect of outbreaks in the resident population ( should Covid-positive migrants be left to wander freely) and were also concerned that residents not be disturbed (by the migrants being housed in unsuitable accommodation) as had occurred in Los Nietos, “we have offered our collaboration to prevent the sacrifice of Murcian residents during the lockdown being wasted”, they said.

However, this doesn´t resolve the problem that as long as the Migrant Transfer Centres remain closed there are no repatriation orders being issued and after 72 hours there is no legal mechanism to prevent illegal migrants who test negative being detained in Spain.

The róle of the humanitarian charitable organisations who will be looking after the migrants is to give medical assistance, help, advice and information and should those in their installations wish to leave then they can do so at any time; the only route by which they can be prevented is for the health department to obtain a judicial order should it be felt that they represent a health risk to the general public, which would only be done for those testing positive or held in quarantine.

Which is itself an added incentive for all those who are desperate to get to Spain to take advantage of this “window of opportunity” a point being seized on by Vox far-right politicians in other areas of the country.

Not all boats are detained. On Thursday Almería media reported that a woman carrying a baby and child had been found walking along the road close to where an empty boat was later found. Had she arrived alone? Had any of her undetected companions been Covid positive? How many more boats are reaching Spain undetected???????

Other Covid news:

With EU borders re-opening on 1st July to non-EU nationals, time was running out this week for the EU to complete the list of countries from which it would accept travellers but it wasn´t until Monday that a list was agreed of the 15 "safe" countries. 

Although Spain voted to accept it on Tuesday, by Wednesday the decision had been taken to review the list and use its right to veto to exlude nationals from any countries which would not give reciprocity to Spanish travellers. This immediately excluded China, as well as Morocco and Algeria, which affect the situation with the illegal migrants mentioned above.

It also highlighted the problem still outstanding with the UK, as British nationals had only been allowed in to Spain without observing the quarantine regulations here on the understanding that this would be reciprocal, and the UK Government had NOT made the expected announcement about its own "travel corridors" on Monday 29th as promised.

This created confusion about whether all the UK flights which had been racked up from the 1st July would be permitted to continue arriving, and readers reported yet more cancellations by airlines as the week wore on.

Finally on Friday lunchtime the British Government announced that ENGLAND would be accepting travellers from 59 destinations without imposing a 14 day quarantine, Spain amongst those on the list, a huge relief for all those hoping to holiday in Spain this summer, starting on July 10th.

Furthermore, from Saturday 4th July the Foreign Office would be amending its travel advice, and would not be advising against travel to Spain, another major relief for all those who had been concerned about the validity of their travel insurance.

However, and there's always a however, this would only apply to ENGLAND as there was still a lack of agreement with the three "devolved" governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales; hopefully this will all be sorted by 10th July when the agreement comes into force.

The border with Portugal was closed until 1st July as outbreaks around Lisbon caused a spike in Covid cases which the authorities wanted to control before opening for other EU member states. On Wednesday the King of Spain presided two official ceremonies (one each in Spain and Portugal) to re-open the border. Click for article

It was also announced this week that the King and Queen of Spain will be visiting Murcia on the 7th July: King and Queen of Spain to visit Murcia Region on 7th July: The King and Queen of Spain have begun a series of visits to every autonomous region of Spain to support the recovery of the country now that the Covid lockdown has been lifted, focusing on social, economic and cultural aspects as well as meeting local residents to thank people at all levels in person for their contributions during the crisis.Don Felipe and Doña Letizia will visit Murcia and Cieza on July 7th, participating in a number of institutional events as they have done in several regions of Spain already.

Although the full programme has not yet been published, it has been confirmed that the royal couple will visit a peach producing farm In Cieza, La Carrichosa, to meet workers picking and packing peaches, which are in their harvest period at the moment. Click for article

Social media users have been asking a lot of questions this week about what to expect in Spain. In an attempt to deal with all their queries we have prepared a summary explaining the basic rules and regs that apply in Spain due to the Covid situation, answering all those questions about do we have to wear masks, what are the restrictions, what can and can´t we do, hopefully answering all these queries.

CLICK HERE  for the full document; Do we need to wear masks when holidaying in Spain this summer?

If you are coming into Spain this summer it is obligatory to complete a Passenger Location Card prior to arrival, regardless of whether you are entering Spain via air, sea or road, a measure which came into effect on 1st July. This is done online in advance and once completed, each passenger will be given a Q-code to scan into their phone or print out. This article explains the safety measures passengers arriving in Spain will experience as they arrive and gives a link through to the correct page for completing the form online. Vendors of tickets such as airlines are obliged to make sure passengers are aware that they must fill in the form so you should also find the same link on ticket booking sites: Click here for this article.

Here in Spain this weekend is the first of "Operation Summer".Normally the first weekend in July sees a massive movement of families from the cities of Spain to coastal regions and holiday properties and this year the DGT has announced that it will be focusing its traffic vigilance efforts into reducing the number of deaths on the road during the peak weeks with the campaign 'This country cannot bear any more deaths . When driving, take extreme precautions, ’referring to the more than 28,000 official deaths that have been recorded in Spain due to the coronavirus.
This year the focus is on modern technology and the DGT is adding hundreds of radars, helicopters, camouflaged vans and drones to its campaign, including three new drones which can issue fines whilst flying and 15 new camouflaged “multavans” (multa means fine)
This year their armoury includes
• 760 fixed speed control radars 
• 548 mobile speed control radars.
• 12 Pegasus helicopters.
• 11 drones (3 of these can automatically issue fines if an infraction is detected).
• 216 belt control cameras and mobile telephones.
• 15 camouflaged vans +
• Speed, alcohol and drug controls. Click for full article

So be vigilant and if you're on holiday, keep an eye on that speed limit as fines are steep!

This year the whole message of the Spanish tourism industry relates to safe holidays and Spain being a safe destination. A study was published this week which concluded that 91% of Spanish families plan to spend their holidays in a destination within Spain, either within their own region, somewhere else on the mainland or one of the offshore islands. 
For 75% of the families surveyed, the main requirement for choosing the destination is that it is “undercrowded,” raising some concerns that destinations which are traditionally emptier will be the most crowded and vice versa this year.

46% of the families in the survey said that this year they would opt for several short stays instead of the traditional long trips, which often include a whole month at a destination. This was because short trips offered greater flexibility and not having to worry about not being able to travel if a personal or foreign unforeseen event were to occur, for example, if the family is forced to quarantine whilst at the destination. Click for full article

Foreign tourists however, rely on aircraft as their principal method of transport, and this week Ryanair announced increased covid safety measures on their flights, it's worth reading this if you are planning to fly with them this summer; click here .

Easyjet however, announced turbulence ahead due to the financial problems caused by the Covid crisis and on one day announced it "might close bases and lose 30% of staff" then the next day sent out thousands of redundancy notices to staff and cancelled several flights, some of which were coming to Murcia. Just the day before the airport at Corvera had re-opened and the regional government press release listed the flights as routes for the summer....

Financial difficulties within the tourist sector, however, aren´t confined to the airlines and this week the Spanish National Institute of Statistics published its monthly summaries for both the number of tourists arriving in Spain and the amount they spent in the country for May 2020 and in both cases the totals for the second month running are zero. (Click here to read the whole article)

In April 2019 foreign tourists spent 7,095 million euros (that’s 7 BILLION euros), with an average expenditure per tourist of 990 euros, 153 euros a day per person.

In May 2019, the expenditure increased to 8,195 million euros (8.1 BILLION euros), with an average of 1,030 euros per person, or 163 euros a day,

So the total loss in these two months alone, is over 15 BILLION euros. For a country which earns more than 12% of its GDP through tourism, it’s a disaster.

With so much uncertainty, many hotels and restaurants have opted not to open and 1.8 million people remain in limbo on the ERTE temporary redundancies scheme until the end of September, unsure whether their job will still exist in the future if their place of employment is able to re-open or whether the business will close altogether.

The impact of the Covid crisis on the tourist sector is plain to see, and logically this translates into job losses. June is traditionally a good month for job creation as summer contracts begin and businesses take on staff in anticipation of hioliday spending, but not this year.

Weather warnings; the first heatwave of the summer brought more than 40 degrees to parts of the region this week and July is always the hottest month of the year. If you are coming on holiday, take a minute to read a reminder of the safety advice for this hot weather as jumping into cold water can be as fatal for the body as roasting on a beach for hours without hydrating sufficiently, and don´t forget that  UVA rays are intense and can cause skin cancer. Click for info

This logically leads to the topic of one of the principal side-effects of the heat; fire.

Roadside fire extinguished in Águilas on Tuesday: Click for article

Major hillside fire in Fuente Álamo near to Las Palas. This fire refused to die down and twice firfighters had to return to the scene when the fire re-ignited, burning a larger area of scrubland. Later on the same day the helicopters were diverted to another scrub fire in Abanilla.Click for this article

Emergency services have had a heavy week, with lots of road accidents and incidents to deal with; Three lorries were involved in a major smash on the A-30 near to Cieza which closed the road for several hours and on Thursday another nasty lorry accident occurred in san Javier. And there was tragedy in Águilas when a 50 year old man drowned when swimming out near the Isla del Fraile. 

Help Murcia Mar Menor re-open office in Los Alcázares: Click for contact details

EU funds to restore two more snow wells in the Sierra Espuña. The “pozos de nieve” supplied ice to the cities and towns of the region prior to the invention of the fridge! Several wells have been restored and can be visited today (click for info about visiting the restored snow wells) but most of them have fallen into a ruinous state despite being of great historical and ethnographical interest. The bulk of the wells are close together in a complex of 28 wells, together with 12 attached buildings (hermitage and houses), two water sources, two roads which form part of the network of natural trails (PR-MU-57 and PR-MU-63) and a livestock route (with a trough and livestock resting place). Click to read the full article

And finally.... the Mar Menor

Three Los Alcázares beaches prohibit bathing due to Gota Fría damage