All of Spain on 'Phase 3' from Monday except five provinces

AN APPLICATION has been approved for the whole of Barcelona and Lleida provinces to move onto 'Phase 3' – the last of the four 'Phases' between lockdown and 'New Normality' – meaning only the Greater Madrid region and part of Castilla y León remains on 'Phase 2'.

Whilst 'Phase' changes normally happen the Monday after they are approved on the Wednesday or Thursday, in this case, the adjustments will be effective from tomorrow (Thursday, June 18).

Madrid was the worst-hit part of Spain during the Covid-19 pandemic, with its health service in chaos and the condition out of control – compared with towns out in the provinces and on the coast with only a handful of cases, if any – but the hefty restrictions the capital and its wider region have been under appear to be working, with contagion numbers plummeting and the death toll falling constantly.

As a result, the ministry of health agreed two weeks ago that the region could switch to 'Phase 2', but does not yet consider it ready to make the leap to 'Phase 3', which allows all shops, bars and business premises to open, subject to reduced numbers – between 50% and 75% - and permits residents to travel outside their province, but not their region.

In the case of Madrid, 'Phase 3' would not extend travel freedom in any case, since as yet, nobody is allowed outside their region, only their province, and Madrid only has one of these.

Four provinces in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León – those of Salamanca, Ávila, Soria and Segovia – remain on 'Phase 2'.

In Catalunya, the Barcelona metropolitan area and the two health departments of Alt Pirineu and the Arán Valley in the province of Lleida remained on 'Phase 2' last week whilst the rest of the region was on 'Phase 3', but from Monday, the whole of Catalunya will be on 'Phase 3'.

Once on this final 'Phase', regional governments have the power to restrict travel between their provinces if they wish – although as yet, only Extremadura has done so, for the first week, and has now lifted these limits – and are also permitted to unilaterally decide to call a halt to the State of Alarm which the whole country has been in since March 16.

As yet, the only region to lift the State of Alarm is Galicia in the far north-west, but this does not mean life will go back to how it was in early March: Even once the four 'Phases' from 0 to 3 have been 'completed', the next step is referred to as 'the New Normality', meaning social distancing is to be maintained when outside the home, masks are compulsory for everyone aged over six, and all hospitals are required to have a set number of beds and other resources available in case of a further outbreak.

Unlike the recovery 'Phases', which are designed to last around two weeks each, the 'New Normality' will continue until either Spain is declared practically Coronavirus-free, or a vaccine is widely available.

Health authorities in Spain warn that, even though the pandemic is largely under control in the country, the main risk factor is that of imported cases, meaning extra-stringent measures will have to be taken this summer during the international tourism season.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes the SARS-CoV-2 virus is here to stay, but that future outbreaks are likely to be localised.

A recent spike in cases in the Basque province of Vizcaya, the capital of which is Bilbao, is under close scrutiny at present, but for as long as the 'New Normality' or any of the 'Phases' are in place, the national government has the power to order a given region, province, health catchment area or even single town into lockdown again to contain the virus.

Although more than 85% of Spain's land mass is now at least on 'Phase 3', with Madrid being the most densely-populated region, around 78% of the country's inhabitants are enjoying their new levels of freedom.

 

Photograph by the national health authority via the Moncloa Palace, the official presidential residence