Daily updates

Looks like the Spanish gov read your post, Bee.

Some heads of the autonomous communities have expressed concern to the PM that decisions detrimental to the fight against the CV will be taken when the country comes out of the state of alarm on 21 June. In particular that that some of their colleagues would remove prohibitions, such as holding large events or eliminating the mandatory use of masks in places where the established physical distance of two meters cannot be respected.

Late yesterday, the Prime Minister announced that "next Tuesday the Council of Ministers will approve a royal decree that will establish the basic rules that all communities will have to comply with in relation to the coronavirus epidemic . A common legal framework that allows the same line of struggle against Covid to be maintained throughout the territory."

The government said that this decree will establish the obligation to maintain current preventive measures, that is, the interpersonal distances of two meters will have to be maintained in all public spaces, including hotels and shops, as well as in schools and at work throughout the period called “new normal” and that will last until there is treatment or a vaccine against coronavirus. At this point, the use of face masks will continue to be mandatory under the same current conditions (in public transport, always, and in open and closed spaces when that distance between people cannot be guaranteed) and the obligation of businesses to provide disinfectants at the entrance of the same.

The decree will cover many points from commerce to transportation and matters relating to health.

Looks like more of the same, then.

Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto (the one who said UK wouldn't be included in tourism to Spain until its figures improve) has said that borders between Spain and France and Portugal could open the day after the state of the alarm ends on June 21st.
Quarantine rules would "probably" be cancelled for travellers from those countries.

She did stress that this had not yet been approved.

Thanks Marcliff. I was hoping someone would be brave enough to stop the madness and shout stop. This 2metres rule is what gets me going. It might as well be 10metres as it has no basis in science to back it up. 1 metre is just as good if they are going to insist on it. The next BOE is going to be interesting. I don't know if stats are available for Spain on those outside of the at risk groups who have actually died from the virus but here in Ireland of the 1600+ deaths it has now been reported that just 187 deaths were outside of the cocooning and at risk group.

Bee

I'd just like my thanks to Marcliff for all his informative posts. As someone sitting in the UK and wondering whether I might get out to our place in Quesada this summer, his posts are invaluable. IOt's great to have such kind people about

Bee, according to RTE News last night a prominent virus expert did say the 2 meter rule was far better then the 1 meter rule but if masks are worn then this brings results nearer.

I see Valencia is again the only one not to ask to progress to the next phase.

Re the 2m rule.
Light a candle and put it two metres away then blow it out. No problem.
Put a mask on and blow from two metres away and it takes quite an effort.
Put it 1m away with a mask on and blow and out it goes very easily.
Not scientific, I must admit, but leads me to think I'll try and follow the 2m rule.

Now, back on track.

The announcement by Sra Maroto at a press breakfast that the borders with Portugal and France could be opened on 22nd June has caused a bit of consternation, not just among members of the council but with Portugal as well.
Portugal has said the border will only open after international agreements.

A spokesperson for Sanchez has backed down on that claim and said that, from the 21st June, mobility will be possible in the national territory, that is, Spain.

Regarding international travel, the department for tourism, trade and industry merely points out that "in accordance with the principle of gradualness, and taking into account the announced commitments to reopen international tourism, safe international mobility will take place from July 1 ". Also recalls the order that opens the possibility to extend border controls beyond the state of alarm.

Mr Sanchez himself then came on and said that whilst talks with the EU and the other member countries will take place, the opening of "safe international mobility" will take place from July 1.

The rest of the day has been spent discussing when certain age groups and abilities can return to school. Children who are behind in their studies could return before the summer but the majority will not return until September. Those that can open in June must have a social distancing of 4m between students.
Regions have put forward their cases to move to the next phase with Madrid, Barcelona and Castilla y Leon requesting to move to phase 2 on Monday.
The Valencia region will not ask to move to Phase 3 a week early as was suggested but will remain in Phase 2 for the full two weeks and move to phase 3 on 15th June as already planned.
Ceuta may revert a phase due to a spike in the number of cases since several birthday parties were held and people were travelling from Spain and N. Africa. They have asked that extra police and border guards be deployed to stop this movement. In any case, Ceuta due to enter Phase 3 on Monday 8th will not do so until at least the 15th.
Then they talked about how much money was going to be allocated to regions to help them recover economically from the pandemic and extra money (or credits, not real money) would be provided by the EU to the hardest hit regions.

Sr Illa (Min of Health) spent the morning laying out the extra protective equipment that was being stockpiled in various regions in case a second wave occurs.

That's it for now. Sr Simon (coordinator of the state of alarm) will be up at around 1800 (usually late) to discuss the new cases and so on. If anything interesting I'll post it later.

Stay safe.

One other thing to show the idiots (Covidiots?) are out and about in Spain as well.
The President of the Madrid community showed a video of people out and about (remember, Madrid is still in Phase 1) of people with face masks around their elbows, friends hugging when meeting, people toasting each other by clinking glasses on the outside terraces of bars and people kissing on park benches.
She then showed harrowing pictures of people fighting for breath in hospitals and coffins being taken away.
She came up with "Libertad = Responsibilidad" (freedom equals responsibility).

It was then reported that a nightclub in Madrid, close to the Moncloa palace, had been raided and a discotheque with more than 150 people were found dancing and drinking inside.

Stay safe.

The health press conference this evening (still going on but I can't find a live feed) was attended by Sr Illa, the Min of Health, Dr Simon (director of state of the alarm coordination), Raquel Yotti (director of the Charles III institute of Health in Madrid) and Marina Pollan (Director of the National Institute for Epidemiology).

It started by stating there had been 5 deaths from CV19 in the last 24 hours and 195 new cases.

Sr Illa was pressed on the way figures are being announced. He said that although he was responsible for the data, each individual region provided the figures. The press referred to a scathing article in the Financial Times saying the figures were false. Sr Illa said no they weren't, they were accurate with reporting but some scepticism remains.
The World Health Organisation reports that there are over 2,000 more deaths in Spain than the Min of Health figures but Sr Illa said the number had been "rationalised" and duplicate entries and those who hadn't been properly tested had been removed from the figures. He said he didn't report to the WHO on a daily basis but the John Hopkins institute in the USA agrees with the Min of Health figures.
Both PP (conservatives opposition) and VOX parties have criticised the Min of Health over the confusion in the figures and the actual number of deaths in Spain.

The others are now talking of the seroprevalence testing that is going on in Spain which shows about 5% of those in Spain have been infected but some places are as low as 1% whilst Madrid and other big cities are as high as 17%.

You can read the FT report at Flawed Data

A few hours ago, the Min of Health stated that he had been talking to the World Health Organisation.
They have agreed that the figures announced by the Spanish Ministry of Health are correct and have now adjusted their figures to match that of Spain. The WHO has corroborated the claim that some 2,000 deaths were removed because of duplication and non tested CV-19 cases.
Those deaths have now been recorded as another cause but do form part of the excess death figures in Spain.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud, que durante varios días ha reportado unas 2.700 muertes más por coronavirus en España que las informadas por el Ministerio de Sanidad, corrigió hoy sus cifras para equipararlas con las nacionales: 27.940 en la actualidad.

The World Health Organisation, which for several days has reported some 2,700 more deaths from coronavirus in Spain than those reported by the Ministry of Health, today corrected its figures to compare them with national ones: 27,940 today.

"Hemos corregido los datos en nuestros sistemas para realinear los cálculos de casos y muertes con los de España, y emitiremos una fe de erratas en el informe de situación de hoy", ha declarado el portavoz de la OMS, Tarik Jasarevic.

"We have corrected the data in our systems to realign the calculations of cases and deaths with those of Spain , and we will issue a faith of errata in today's situation report," said WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic.

(I translated fe de erratas literally as I can't think of an English equivalent - unless I go all biblical).