'Guardian' and the WHO praise Spaniards' lockdown behaviour

THE WORLD Health Organisation has praised Spain for its 'swift control' of new outbreaks, acting quickly to isolate and test and, if necessary, impose movement restrictions, whilst British broadsheet The Guardian has described the 'exemplary' way Spaniards behaved during lockdown and are continuing to act now 'New Normality' has been declared.

Although the European continent is still notifying an average of 700 deaths a day and around 20,000 new cases of Covid-19, Spain is handling it exceptionally well, says the WHO's regional manager Hans Kluge.

On Twitter, he wrote: “Staggering progress in Spanish Covid response guided by health minister Salvador Illa – 1% positivity rate, 60% of new patients through contact-tracing, testing capacity increased. Vigilance towards mini-outbreaks in the new reality. Full support by WHO Europe,” and includes emojis of clapping hands.

Germany, one of Spain's main summer tourism output countries, is managing further outbreaks similarly well, as are Poland and Israel, says Kluge.

Most of these have been associated with the reopening of schools, factories and coal mines, he explains.

Kluge, additionally, praises the 'change in people's behaviour', in terms of adhering to social distancing rules and use of masks in public.

“Bravo, people!” He tweets.

His view are supported by Guardian writer Giles Tremlett, who lives in Madrid and has experienced Spanish lockdown first-hand.

In an article titled 'Spain squashed Coronavirus', Tremlett raises concerns that British tourists will 'undo all that hard work', given that they are now permitted entry to the country but that many UK residents have heavily criticised their public for ignoring and flouting the safety measures – such as huge crowds on the beaches in Southend and Bournemouth, and unmasked crowds drinking to celebrate Liverpool's Champions' League win.

Tremlett echoes president Pedro Sánchez's argument that 'Spain had Europe's strictest Coronavirus lockdown', referring to 'children housebound for weeks and Army patrols to enforce it', which has 'produced a dramatic tail-off' and led to the country's mortality rate 'returning to normal' on May 10.

“It's important to acknowledge that Spanish success is the result of an exhausting exercise in nationwide solidarity among 47 million people,” Tremlett says.

He is highly-critical of the government's initial reaction to the pandemic, calling it 'poor' and 'late', although he praises them for locking down the country so completely as to bring the virus under control within two months.

“Spain was fertile terrain,” Tremlett recalls. “Of the 33 most densely-populated square kilometres in Europe, 23 are here [for Spain], in cities like Barcelona, according to Sheffield University's Alasdair Rae. It's also a place of intense physical proximity – a nation of huggers and kissers.”

But this is what 'makes its later achievement more remarkable', the Guardian correspondent considers.

“The government used a blunt instrument, decreeing a March 15 lockdown that only finished on June 21. Shopping and dog-walking were, for much of that time, the only reasons for leaving home.”

He says that unlike in the UK, Spanish people did not live up to 'the stereotype that they are rowdy, rule-breaking anarchists' but displayed 'fortitude and discipline' and continue to be, he says, a 'nation of compulsive hand-washers and distance-respecters', and that 'almost everyone' out and about in Madrid wears a mask.

In fact, he refers to the WHO's Pedro Alonso, who handles the international malaria programme and who was initially highly-sceptical that Spain would be able to stick to a 'Wuhan-style lockdown', but who has since said: "The country has made a remarkable sacrifice."

Allowing tourists back in is necessary to a country which largely lives off it, and to keep its economy buoyant, and as Tremlett points out, anyone who notices symptoms even remotely Coronavirus-like needs to get themselves to a doctor, where they will be tested 'within 24 hours' and have the results a day or two after that, a system which is 'free of charge to everyone'.

“Visitors from the UK may find they are both safer from the virus and more likely to be reliably diagnosed when in Spain,” Tremlett concludes.

“Spaniards want [Brits] back, but only if you respect the effort 47 million people have put into making their country safe.”