'Phase 1' of 'unlocking': 51% of provinces relax restrictions from Monday

But 49% of provinces will remain on the pre-recovery 'Phase 0', since their available health facilities are not yet ready to cope with a possible further outbreak of Covid-19, or they still have high numbers of cases and new contagions have not stopped.

If everything goes according to plan, the provinces which have to remain on 'Phase 0' will be able to switch to 'Phase 1' from Monday, May 18, but this is not guaranteed.

'Phase 1' provinces: Where they are

The whole of the regions of Aragón (the provinces of Teruel, Zaragoza and Huesca) and Asturias, as well as the Balearic and Canary Islands, can move to 'Phase 1' from Monday.

Other entire regions due to hit 'Phase 1' are Murcia, Navarra, Galicia, Extremadura, the Basque Country, Cantabria, La Rioja, and the Spanish-owned city-provinces of Ceuta and Melilla on the northern Moroccan coast.

In Andalucía, all provinces except Granada and Málaga will do so, meaning those which are able to open up a bit more cover Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Sevilla, Cádiz and Huelva.

On the east coast, the Comunidad Valenciana's three provinces – Castellón, Valencia and Alicante – are still subject to some restrictions, since the phases have been determined by area health department rather than provinces as a whole; whilst some parts of the southern Valencia province, for example, and in the far south of Alicante, have had minimal contagions and fewer than 20 deaths, others, such as Valencia city, have been hit much harder.

Those health departments which will move to 'Phase 1' on Monday – 10 out the total of 24 – are Gandia, Xàtiva-Ontinyent, Requena (Valencia province), Orihuela, Elda, Dénia-Marina Alta, Marina Baixa, Alcoi, Torrevieja (Alicante province), and Vinaròs (Castellón province).

The ones which have to remain on 'Phase 0' another week at least are the two departments in Castellón city; in the province of Valencia, that of Sagunto – which, oddly, covers several small, rural towns in the province of Castellón with hardly any cases of Covid-19 at all – and La Ribera, covering Alzira, Cullera, Sueca, Monserrat and Montroy, plus all the health departments in Valencia city and its 'home counties' and metropolitan area; in Alicante, those of Alicante city, San Juan, and the Elche area.

In Catalunya, only three health departments will move to 'Phase 1' – Terres de l'Ebre and Camp de Tarragona (Tarragona province), and Alt Pirineu-Aran (Lleida province).

For Castilla-La Mancha, only the provinces of Guadalajara and Cuenca will shift forward to 'Phase 1', and in Castilla y León, no complete province will do so at all.

In the latter, however, 26 area health departments will move to 'Phase 1', but anywhere outside of these within the region will stay on 'Phase 0' at least another week – Muñico (Ávila), Sedano, Valle de Losa, Quintanar de la Sierra, Espinosa de los Monteros, Pampliega, Valle de Mena (Burgos), Truchas, Riaño, Matallana de Torio (León), Torquemada (Palencia), Robleda, Miranda del Castañar, Aldeadavila de la Ribera, Lumbrales (Salamanca), Alaejos, Mayorga de Campos, Esguevillas de Esgueva (Valladolid), Alta Sanabria, Carbajales de Alba, Tábara, Santibáñez de Vidriales, Alcañices, Corrales del Vino, Villalpando (Zamora), and San Pedro Manrique (Soria).

Madrid, the worst-hit of all Spain's regions, will remain on 'Phase 0' for at least another week.