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24TH - 30TH MARCH 2020 - EDITION 831
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Your Essential Weekly Read
Spanish government to extend lockdown The Spanish government is set to extend the state of alarm, declared on 14th March in a bid to slow the coronavirus outbreak, for a further 15 days. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had originally set the lockdown for one 15 day period which was due to last until 29th March. Sánchez needs the approval of Spain’s lower house, the Congress of Deputies, to extend the state of alarm, which is certain to be approved. Therefore, the lockdown will continue until 12th April, meaning that people in Spain will be confined to their homes during the popular Easter holiday break. Congress will vote on the decision on 25th March. Pablo Casado, the leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), declared last week that his party would be willing to support an extension of the emergency measure. Other parties also indicated that they would support the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the outbreak. The move comes after Sánchez warned the Spanish population on Saturday that the coronavirus crisis was set to worsen in the coming days. “Unfortunately the number of diagnosed cases is going to rise in the coming days. The worst is yet to come, and it is pushing our capacities to the limit,” said the Prime Minister in a national televised address. Latest figures Official figures change within minutes and so will be out of date at the time of going to print. However, looking at the latest available figures is useful to help put the statistics into perspective. The weekend before lockdown Spain had around 2,000 cases. The weekend of the lockdown there were around 8,000
and this past weekend there were 28,600 – a difference of 26,000 case in a just two weeks. On Sunday (22nd March) the total number of deaths in Spain from the coronavirus pandemic was at 1,753. Of the overall infected patients, 1,785 were in intensive care, while 2,575 had recovered and had been discharged
from hospital. Speaking to the press, Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Centre for Health Alerts, said that “12 percent of all those affected are health workers” – a total of 3,475 people. The health expert warned that Intensive Care Units (ICU) could face
even greater strain due to a rise in infections. “The critical point for the ICUs will happen two weeks after contagions peak,” said Simón. “There is going to be great pressure in some places but this collapse will not be generalised.” Simón said that the fatality rate in Spain was “around 6 percent, and 10 percent in some areas,” but indicated
that this figure would drop once more testing gets underway. The Committee for the Technical Management of Covid19 has announced that Spain has purchased 640,000 fast-result test kits that would arrive “in the coming days.” Experts believe that cases will peak in Spain over the coming weekend or early into the following week. It’s unlikely that the lockdown will be eased until the number of new cases drops considerably. Local situation The province of Alicante registered 58 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours
between Saturday and Sunday, during which 10 more people died from this disease, as explained by the Regional Minister of Public Health, Ana Barceló. The virus is affecting 579 people in the Alicante region, and 1,604 in the entire Valencian Community. The number of fatalities since the pandemic began in the Alicante province amounts to 40, and 69 in the whole of the Valencian community. Alicante suffered more than half of the deaths over the weekend, 10 out of 19, which the Health Minister explained was due to an outbreak at an elderly care home in Alcoy. Care homes for the elderly are a high risk both for the residents and the care-workers. The virus also continues to spread among general health professionals. There are already 335 health workers who have tested positive in the Community - almost 21 percent of infected people. By Sunday the total number of people hospitalised with the virus was 590, of which 209 are in the province of Alicante, and of these 33 in Intensive Care Units (ICU). Coronavirus tests with negative results carried out so far total 6,633. The Conselleria website to carry out selftesting has already registered 1,900,000 enquiries, and the specific telephone number enabled by the Generalitat has answered 34,355 calls. Cases in Madrid The Madrid region, which has been hardest hit by the outbreak, registered 1,021 deaths and 9,702 infections as of Sunday. Many of the victims were elderly residents in care homes, which saw a dramatic spike in infections last week. The Ifema Convention Centre, which has been converted into a temporary field hospital, began receiving its first patients and Madrid authorities also indicated that nine hotels are set to be converted into hospitals for patients with less-serious symptoms. Stay at home All residents are being reminded to stay at home and are being warned that after a week of adjustment the authorities are now clamping down on those found driving around and wandering the streets. Feeble excuses will no longer be tolerated and fines of between €100 and €600 will be issued on the spot.