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ARCHIVED - With no Covid cases Canary Islands hope to lead the way in de-escalating the Spanish coronavirus lockdown
No cases at all on the island of La Graciosa and none for a month in El Hierro
As the coronavirus pandemic begins to show signs of abating in Spain there is great speculation and anticipation regarding how and when the state of emergency will be de-escalated, and following the numerous statements by leading politicians and health authorities that the process is likely to start sooner in some areas than in others there are hopes in the Canary Islands that this could be the first of the country’s 17 regions to begin life in what Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez refers to as “the new normality”.
The prime candidate in the Canaries is the small island of La Graciosa, which has only just over 700 inhabitants. Since the first case of Covid-19 in Spain was confirmed on the island of La Gomera on 31st January there have been a further 2,093 confirmed infections in the archipelago, but none of them have occurred in La Graciosa, and after six weeks of strict obedience of the lockdown restrictions the feeling is that here more than anywhere a relaxation of the confinement is due.
At the same time it has to be recognized that there have actually been no tests carried out on the island, but after a month and a half of lockdown it can be assumed that any asymptomatic infection will by now have passed, and that La Graciosa is a coronavirus-free zone.
The same assumption can be made on the island of El Hierro, where no new cases have been reported for a month, and perhaps in La Gomera, where the figure has not risen for a fortnight, and the regional government of the Canaries is drawing up a plan in which these islands could take the lead and act as pilots for de-escalation. Justifying this initiative, Lluis Serra Majem of the regional government’s scientific committee poses the question “Would Madrid be in lockdown if the Canaries had 2,000 cases and they had 10?”
La Graciosa is 1,500 kilometres from Madrid as the crow flies, and over 1,000 km from the nearest point on the Spanish mainland. Lockdown in the island has meant that the ferry connecting the island with Lanzarote is running only twice daily instead of ten times a day, and most of the few shops are closed. But many urge caution in resuming normal activity on the island while recognizing that tourism this year could be practically non-existent. But throughout the Canaries, where travel was restricted before the national government enforced the virtual closure of ports and airports, there is hope that by the summer life will at least resemble normality: the islands have the lowest overall infection rate among Spain’s 17 regions (97 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), the lowest rate of current active cases (49 per 100,000 inhabitants) and the lowest mortality rate (6 per 100,000 inhabitants), and it appears that their geographical isolation has been helpful in protecting the region.
It was not until June 2018 that La Graciosa was upgraded from “islet” and awarded “island” status by the Spanish Senate’s General Committee of Autonomous Communities. With a land area of only 29 square kilometres, it is not even a separate municipality within the Canaries, instead being classified as an outlying district of Teguise on the island of Lanzarote, but it was recognized as a natural park in 1984 and a marine reserve in 1995, and since 1992 has been included in UNESCO’s list of biosphere reserves.
The only two villages on the island, which is separated from Lanzarote by a strait known as El Río, are La Caleta del Sebo and Casas de Pedro Barba, but the inhabitants do not have their own island government, as is the case on the other officially recognized “islands” in the Canaries (Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro).
Image: Wikicommons, afrank99, licence CC BY-SA 2.0
Remember: LOCKDOWN MEANS LOCKDOWN. STAY AT HOME. STAY SAFE AND DO YOUR BIT TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS.
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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)
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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) 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!
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