Linea Directa 200 LEFT COL CAR INSURANCE

PROPERTY SEARCH

DomusVi Ciudad de Murcia residential cross content 1200

Date Published: 12/04/2020

ARCHIVED - Spanish Prime Minister denies that Spain intends to relax the lockdown

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

“Spain is not in the de-escalation phase. Only if we gain ground against the virus and the health system recovers will we advance into that phase. And if not, we will maintain or tighten the restrictions, “he said following the fifth videoconference between regional leaders.

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spanish Prime Minister denies that Spain intends to relax the lockdown

The PM announced his intention of prolonging the state of emergency until 11th May on Friday.

Today Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez held the fifth in a series of video conferences with the regional presidents of the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain to discuss the current situation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures undertaken by the Spanish Government to deal with the crisis.

There has been a considerable amount of tension amongst the leaders of the Autonomous Communities in the last few weeks about the handling of the crisis, and during this meeting the PM called for “a national pact of reconstruction” to “put the country back on its feet” which required the consensus of “all without exception”.

Mañana se reanudan las actividades económicas hibernadas durante el #PermisoRetribuidoRecuperable. Solo esas. El resto de actividades interrumpidas al decretarse el estado de alarma siguen interrumpidas.

El confinamiento general sigue siendo la regla.#EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos pic.twitter.com/JrNpUPqUNb
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 12, 2020

“It is important that at this critical moment we are all together, and that we make this pledge from the heart and in good faith. We do not view any of the autonomous governments as adversaries, but as allies with the sole objective of defeating the pandemic, "said Sánchez, saying that he viewed it as " essential " to transmit a message of " coordination, transparency and loyalty even if there are logical discrepancies between us. "

Tomorrow around four million non-essential workers will be permitted to return to work, a decision which has highlighted political differences between political leaders, as although there is a general acceptance that financially the country cannot support the cost of so many workers sitting at home in lockdown, there are also fears that insufficient protective materials are available to ensure the full protection of all those who will be working and that the number of cases could increase again with more people on the streets.

However, Prime Minister Sánchez is most concerned that the general public does not view the decision to allow some non-essential workers to resume work as being a relaxation of the state of emergency and misinterpret the economic decision as being a sign that Spain can relax its lockdown; “Spain is not in the de-escalation phase. Only if we gain ground against the virus and the health system recovers will we advance into that phase. And if not, we will maintain or tighten the restrictions.”

"I want to be very clear: we are not even entering a second phase. The de-escalation will begin at the earliest in two weeks and will be progressive and cautious. General confinement will continue for at least the next two weeks, "said the president. The situation continues to be critical for Spain, with 16,972 deaths and more than 166,000 cases of Covid-19 and although there has been a deceleration in the number of cases and deaths over the weekend, observers should take into consideration that Thursday and Friday were bank holidays, and Easter weekend is traditionally an important family holiday in Spain, so the chance of the figures not being accurate is very high; for the last two weekends the Monday figures appeared to have shown positive evolutions, but by Tuesday had increased considerably once again, so it is very dangerous to take the figures presented this weekend as being accurate.

However, one positive figure which has been published is the number of recoveries, which has now passed the 62,000 mark.

On Friday the PM revealed that he would be requesting a debate for a further extension of the state of emergency until the 11th May as by the 26th April “we will not have seen the back of this pandemic” and “if it were so, then things would have to have improved considerably by then.”

Today he insisted that the health and lives of Spanish citizens remained his principal preoccupation and that the general confinement of the population must continue in order to fight the virus, “the state of emergency is maintained and the general confinement will continue, “he said.

Remember: LOCKDOWN MEANS LOCKDOWN. STAY AT HOME. STAY SAFE AND DO YOUR BIT TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS.

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/.

Our local area groups are as follows. These are designed to filter locally specific information and may be used by clubs, charities, any of the businesses who work with us to ensure information is available to residents in English and for those living in the specific areas. They are not buy and sell groups, do not accept any bickering or argumentative so and so's, are not "open for any old rubbish" pages, and are not trying to compete with your local comunity groups, they are specifically for sharing good, relevant local information and we hope you will use them for that during this difficult time.

Around Mazarrón news, events and local info: Click to join

Mazarrón, Fuente Álamo, Águilas, Lorca, Totana, Puerto Lumbreras, Camposol, Alhama de Murcia. Click to join (all within a half hour drive of each other)

Mar Menor news, events and local info. Click to join (this includes all the Mar Menor municipalities and Cartagena)

North-west Murcia: Bullas, Mula, Cehegin, Caravaca, Cieza, Calasparra, Jumilla, Moratalla info. Click to join

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

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spanish Prime Minister denies that Spain intends to relax the lockdown

The regional government has set up a special helpline to supply information to members of the public (900 121212) if they suspect that they may have contracted the virus rather than going straight to hospital or to a medical centre.

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

- Don´t panic!