'Phase 2' and 'Phase 3' requests for Monday: What regions want

 

SPAIN'S government is once again going through the weekly applications to jump forward a 'Phase' which, if agreed, would take place from Monday – and so far, only the Comunidad Valenciana and the northern Morocco-based city-province of Ceuta have opted not to do so.

The former, on the east coast, moved onto 'Phase 2', the penultimate on the scale, on Monday this week (June 1) after 14 of its 24 area health departments had been on 'Phase 1' for a fortnight, the standard timescale, and the rest for three weeks.

Ceuta moved onto 'Phase 2' along with its fellow Spanish city on the African continent, Melilla, on May 25, but a sudden spike in the number of cases due to a birthday party where numbers far exceeded the legal maximum means Ceuta regional health minister Mohammed Mohand has opted not to request a further opening up.

Galicia, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja, Extremadura, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Melilla, Asturias and Murcia have applied to move onto 'Phase 3', the last before the lockdown is declared over.

In the case of the Canaries, the islands of La Graciosa, El Hierro and La Gomera have already been on 'Phase 3' for a week, having been a step ahead of the rest of the country all along; this also applies to Formentera in the Balearic Islands, although not to its three larger neighbours, Mallorca, Menorca or Ibiza.

Galicia also wants travel between provinces to be authorised, given that its four provinces are 'in a similar epidemiological situation', and also for the borders between the region and its eastern neighbour, Asturias, and Portugal to the south, to reopen.

Castilla-La Mancha has been split between 'Phases' several times, typically with the provinces of Cuenca and Guadalajara ahead, and now the central territory is entirely on 'Phase 2', it wants these two provinces only to move to 'Phase 3'.

Castilla y León is one of only two complete regions still on 'Phase 1', although earlier this week, it was agreed that the healthcare catchment area of El Bierzo in the province of León could move to 'Phase 2' – which regional health minister Verónica Casado now wants the rest of the centre-northern territory to switch to from Monday.

Other regions which want to advance to 'Phase 3' and increase movement are Aragón, whose leader Javier Lambán wants to allow residents to travel outside their provinces; Cantabria, whose president Miguel Ángel Revilla wants permission to reopen Santander's Seve Ballesteros airport, and the Basque Country, whose president or lehendakari Íñigo Urkullu wants the borders to open with next-door Navarra and with the southern French region of Aquitaine.

Murcia hopes to move en bloc to 'Phase 3', including the town of Totana which was a week later in switching to 'Phase 2' than the rest of the region due to a sudden outbreak, but it is calling for greater restrictions on events in the open air – to 100 people – in enclosed spaces, to 50 and in 'general meetings', to 20, which is fewer than the 'Phase 3' rules allow.

Extremadura and La Rioja both consider their regions' health data to be 'positive' with 'low contagion figures', and that their medical services 'have the capacity to cope' if Covid-19 cases rise again.

Both the island regions are seeking a complete move to 'Phase 3', meaning that in the Canaries, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma would join El Hierro, La Gomera and La Graciosa, and in the Balearics, Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca would join Formentera.

Melilla, directly due south of Almería province and close to the Algerian border with Morocco, remains the territory with the lowest percentage of Covid-19 cases and fatalities – two residents died, and at present, it has no active cases at all – wants to move to 'Phase 3'.

Andalucía has so far been another 'split' region, with the provinces of Málaga and Granada frequently a 'Phase' behind the others, although the entire southern strip has been on 'Phase 2' since June 1.

Now, however, its right-wing government, a coalition including the far-right Vox, has called for the whole of Andalucía including Málaga and Granada to switch to 'Phase 3' and 'will not entertain any other option'.

Its president Juanma Moreno has reiterated his request for movement between Andalucía's eight provinces, especially given that many of its more densely-populated coastal areas 'flow into' each other, meaning that at present, many residents can travel hundreds of kilometres in one direction but cannot visit their next town in the other.

Madrid is likely to be a sticky point again – the worst-hit Coronavirus area in the country, with several thousand deaths and hospitals bursting at the seams, it has largely been held back in lower 'Phases', which has not pleased its government.

This coming week, the Greater Madrid region wants to move en bloc to 'Phase 2', insisting that its most recent health service report shows 'an improvement in all areas', including a 'reinforcement in diagnostics, especially at GP surgery level' for detecting new Covid-19 cases quickly.

If it succeeds in its bid to move to 'Phase 2', it could mean that next week sees the most Coronavirus-ravaged region in the nation on the same 'Phase' as the Comunidad Valenciana, where a high number of small but densely-populated towns have had no Covid-19 cases at all – including Jalón, Llíber, Xeresa, Sagra, Sanet y Negrals, and Guardamar de la Safor – or merely one or two, such as Pego, which has a headcount of over 11,000.

Whilst the Comunidad Valenciana does not want to switch to 'Phase 3' yet – saying it is impossible to see how well 'Phase 2' has worked after only three days – it has requested residents be allowed to travel to holiday homes within the same region, even if they are outside the province; a situation that means many cannot get to their second homes even if they are literally within walking distance.

Also, it wants residents to be able to visit the neighbouring regions of Murcia, Catalunya and Castilla-La Mancha, 'provided these are in the same Phase'.

In Catalunya, the Barcelona metropolitan area and the Lleida-province hospital catchment areas of Alt Pirineu and the Arán Valley are still on 'Phase 1', and the regional government wants the first of these to move to 'Phase 2' from Monday – but the latter two to jump to 'Phase 3' along with the province of Tarragona.

Given that this would mean part of Lleida province leapfrogging 'Phase 2' altogether, it seems unlikely Spain's government will allow it.