'Phase' changes from June 1

The Balearic island of Formentera and the Canarian islands of La Graciosa, La Gomera and El Hierro will move to 'Phase 3', the end of which will spell complete freedom from lockdown rules.

Although the Balearics wanted the entire region on 'Phase 3', this has not been agreed for Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, which will remain on 'Phase 2' another week.

This was the only 'Phase 3' request - Aragón wanted some of its rural areas to move to 'Phase 3', although not the entire region, but in the end all three provinces including remote country zones and built-up areas will stay on 'Phase 2'.

On the east coast, the Comunidad Valenciana – which had been left behind most of the country this week after opting not to request to move to 'Phase 2' – has now come in line with the majority of Spain and will be on 'Phase 2' from June 1, a welcome move for staff and owners in larger shops and in bars which decided to stay closed until they could use their inside areas.

The Greater Madrid region had not requested to move to 'Phase 2', but wanted to be able to reopen shopping centres and allow students in the upper sixth form to return to the classrooms – both, however, have been turned down.

One of the two city-provinces on the northern Moroccan coast, Ceuta, was in danger of moving back to 'Phase 0' from Monday due to a 'significant and unusual spike' in cases – having reported numbers of Covid-19 patients dropping almost to zero and having been on 'Phase 2' all this week, nine new diagnoses have been made in the last few days, bringing the total of active cases to 22 – of whom two are in hospital on wards and one in observation - and a further 271 residents are in quarantine at home.

Of these, two of those infected and 80 of those in compulsory isolation are due to a birthday party, which was against the rules as gatherings of only 15 people are allowed in 'Phase 2'.

Regional health minister Javier Guerrero says the situation is 'very worrying', since 'on an epidemiological level' the enclave is now 'worse than Murcia, the Balearics and even Andalucía' and the number of people in isolation due to probable contact with positive cases 'is not even seen right now in Madrid'.

After a meeting with national health minister Salvador Illa, Guerrero said: “He told me that if we continued like this, we'd go back to 'Phase 0'.

“The minister was very angry indeed.”

Guerrero warns that there had been 'a lot of relaxing of precautions' in the outer neighbourhoods of Ceuta, closest to the border with Morocco, and has called for more National Police and Guardia Civil on the streets to ensure nobody breaks the rules.

“We need to act against irresponsible attitudes, because I've seen loads of bars and terraces not complying with the rules, and we intend to start reporting and fining those who endanger public health,” Guerrero said.

But Spain's government has decided Ceuta – which has had four deaths in total, but none in several weeks – will remain for now on 'Phase 2', with the situation reviewable over the following month and the option of taking a backwards step open if the pandemic is not considered under control.

Its neighbour, Melilla, is now the first region in Spain with no active cases, but its health minister Mohammed Mohand has decided not to request 'Phase 3' yet and has warned residents not to get complacent.

'Phase' map photograph by the ministry of health