Date Published: 16/11/2020
ARCHIVED - No decision will be taken on re-opening of bars until the end of the week
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Cartagena has requested that bars be permitted to re-open in the municipality due to the “low numbers “ in Cartagena
Although residents of the region are desperate to get back into their favourite hostelries and watering holes, the regional spokesman for the health service, Jaime Pérez, has said on Monday that no decision will be made until the end of the week when the evolution of the virus is reviewed.
The Covid Monitoring Committee will meet on Tuesday to review the current situation, but the re-opening of the hostrelry sector is reportedly not on the agenda.
There has certainly been a slight slowing down in the number of new cases reported in the last few days, although last week new case numbers were higher than in the preceding week due to high numbers at the beginning of the week:
On Friday 16th October the Murcia Region reported 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).
There are currently 610 patients hospitalised with covid, and 106 in intensive care, a level requiring sanitary care which is placing considerable pressure on the health service, with some ICU units completely full.
The fatalities level, however, remains high, and between Friday to Friday 85 people died from coronavirus in the region.
The areas worst affected at the moment are mainly in the north and north-west, with Yecla having the highest number of cases per 100,000 of population (967), but some municipalitiess have lower figures, amongst them Cartagena which has a rate of 137 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
On Monday the Mayoress of Cartagena made a point of specifically requesting that bars and restaurants in Cartagena be permitted to re-open as their rate is so much lower than in other areas, but even 137 is still a high figure; 25 is the level at which the virus is considered to be under control.
The Ciudadanos political party in the region, has proposed that municipalities with lower rates be allowed to re-open their hostelry businesses, but there has a problem in the last week with a lack of police resources to control municipal borders and there are obviously concerns that border-hopping could take place should this occur, defeating the object of the municipal confinements.