In the midst of a second wave of coronavirus in Spain, Madrid was forced to implement confinement measures and other harsh social restrictions, despite the resistance of the Madrid government and after the majority of the autonomous communities jointly approved a containment plan.
In the midst of a second wave of coronavirus in Spain, Madrid was forced to implement confinement measures and other harsh social restrictions , despite the resistance of the Madrid government and after most of the autonomous communities jointly approved a containment plan proposed by the Spanish Ministry of Health.
After a prolonged resistance by the regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso , to confine the Spanish capital, finally the Ministry of Health in charge of Salvador Illa , imposed its criteria after presenting and voting on a general plan for large cities across the country.
In addition to Madrid, Catalonia , Andalusia and two other regions governed by the Popular Party (PP) opposed the plan of the Executive of Pedro Sanchez , considering that the criteria are ” arbitrary “. In the Catalan case, they allege that the measures are more lax than those already under way in the northern region, although no total confinement currently applies.
Illa, for his part, assured in a press conference that he “does not contemplate” that any region does not apply the measures adopted , which must be effective within 48 hours .
The plan currently affects only the Community of Madrid , specifically the capital and nine other cities with a cumulative incidence in 14 days of more than 500 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 inhabitants . Among other things, it contemplates the prohibition of meetings of more than 6 people, as well as a restriction of the capacity of bars and restaurants to 50% and limits of hours for the hospitality industry, which may not close after 11 pm.
The head of the management of the pandemic in Spain had already advanced the three criteria for the perimeter closure of large cities, which in addition to the incidence of cases per number of inhabitants, will take into account that the PCR tests performed exceed 10% of the municipality and that the region has more than 35% of intensive care beds occupied with Covid patients.
Shortly before the meeting, the government Ayuso disagreed with Health to the claim that “it should be noted that the city of Madrid is a set of 21 districts, of which 18 exceed 100,000 inhabitants, and therefore the Indices cannot be applied, as a whole, to the entire city . ” Likewise, “the scientific and technical basis” that supports the criterion of 500 infections per “100,000 inhabitants” was questioned, according to a statement released by the local press.
The Madrid Ministry of Health also assured that it has “elasticity of beds in hospitalization and ICU (intensive therapy)” , if necessary and recalls that it is building a public hospital to increase the care capacity, according to the news agency Télam .
