COVID-19: Spanish regions start relaxing measures

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) – As new COVID-19 cases continued to drop on Thursday, some regional governments in Spain moved to ease restrictions, in defiance of the central government’s advice.

“It is fundamental for the regions to maintain restrictions […] and be careful with the UK variant. In Spain, we already have around 550 cases and many more suspicious cases,” Health Minister Carolina Darias told Spain’s Radio Nacional.

As of Wednesday, Spain had reported around 428 new cases per day per million people over the last week. That’s more than four times higher than Germany, which announced it was extending lockdown until March 7, and almost twice as high as in the UK, which remains closed.

Unlike those countries, Spain has not undergone a strict lockdown since spring of 2020. This wave of infections has come down thanks to a patchwork of local measures that include closing bars and non-essential shops, enforcing curfew as early as 10 p.m. local time (2100GMT) and limiting people from traveling in and out of cities.

But on Thursday, the government of Castile-La Mancha said it will reopen the hospitality sector and remove inter-regional travel restrictions, just as Extremadura will do from Friday. Officials also announced that bars and restaurants will reopen this weekend in the city of Malaga.

Meanwhile, the Madrid and Galician governments hinted that they would also begin to ease measures.

This week, the Basque Country reopened bars and restaurants in the worst-hit areas after a court ruled there was no evidence that the establishments led to increased contagion.

After the ruling, the judge behind the decision, Luis Ángel Garrido, ruffled more feathers when he told press that epidemiologists “are regular family doctors who have taken a little course.”

On Thursday, Spain reported 17,583 more infections – more than 12,000 fewer than on the same day last week. Hospitalizations also continued their gradual decrease, but 41% of all the country’s intensive care units still remain occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Deaths, on the other hand, are still climbing. The Health Ministry confirmed another 513 fatalities, 81 more than last Thursday.

So far, Spain has administered 2.3 million vaccine doses – 80% of all vaccines received – with nearly 950,000 people having received both doses.

Today, Spain started vaccinating essential workers like police, teachers and prison workers with the AstraZeneca vaccine. But only those who are younger than 55 and without any serious medical issues are receiving the jab.