OLIVE PRESS
The
Andalucía
Mijas Costa FREE
Your expat
voice in Spain
Vol. 15 Issue 367 www.theolivepress.es April 21st - May 4th 2021
Olive press Spring travel special
Bare s e i t i s s e c Ne
With national travel inching ever closer, the Olive Press offers two special guides to Mijas and Ibiza, four hotels and no less than FIVE restaurants reviews - All inside this issue While it’s nearly 90% to blame for the fourth wave, the British COVID variant has no teeth in Spain IT might be to blame for a staggering 86% of new cases… but the so-called British variant of COVID is having very little impact in Spain. The B.1.1.7 strain has actually been described as a good thing by the nation’s chief ep-
All bark, little bite
idemiologist. It is now responsible for the vast majority of the cases behind the current fourth wave
Award Winning Rehabilitation Clinic
spreading around the country, a huge increase on the 2% detected in January when the third wave reached its peak. Early fears over the new variant - that got its name as it was first detected in Britain - led to Spain closing its borders to travellers from the UK unless they were resident here.
SKY + THE DOCTOR + ALL AREAS COVERED
Are you feeling depressed? Addiction problems? www.villaparadisospain.com
4G UNLIMITED INTERNET IDEAL FOR STREAMING TV ALSO IPTV, SATELLITE TV
tel: (0034) 952 763 840 info@theskydoctor.com www.theskydoctor.com
By Fiona Govan
It was feared that not only was it more contagious, but it could prove more lethal, pushing Spain’s hospitals into a critical condition again. However, despite being responsible for almost all cases now detected, the nation’s hospitals are not being overwhelmed in the same way they were during earlier waves. What’s more, the effect on the Spanish health service is far smaller than in other countries, like France or Germany. Fernando Simon, Spain’s Director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, predicted that the British variant could in fact be advantageous for Spain. “It’s now our variant,” Simon said, adding that it ‘could actually be benefiting us’ as ‘it’s leaving no room’ for the potentially more dangerous South African and Brazilian variants to take hold.
Now it is hoped that the prevalence of the British strain could work in favour of loosening restrictions on travel between Spain and the UK sooner than later. In what would be excellent news for the tourist industry, it is now likely that British holidaymakers will be allowed to visit en masse over the summer. Currently Britain is considering the categorisation of countries under a traffic light system based on the level of risk, with Portugal and Malta currently most likely to open first.
Green light
Those returning to the UK from ‘green light’ destinations won't have to undergo the compulsory quarantine that is currently required. The latest data from April 19 shows that the British variant is responsible for an average of 86% of cases across Spain while just three cases of the South African variant, and
32 cases of the Brazilian have been detected. Asturias has the highest prevalence of the British variant with 98.8% of cases detected, while Aragon has the lowest with 74%.
Good news
Meanwhile Andalucia records 96% of cases as British strain, the Valencia region counts 89%, Madrid 80%, Catalunya 79% and the Balearic Islands 78%. Further good news arrived this week showing that current vaccines in use in Spain are effective in preventing the British variant, something that may not be the case with the Brazilian and South African strains. Spain insists it is still on track to inoculate 70% of its population by the end of summer, despite vaccine supply problems causing delays in rolling out the vaccination programme. Opinion Page 6