Isha Sesay
THE Government has ruled out lifting the lockdown restrictions in the Balearic Islands before the rest of the country.
The question was put to the Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero, by the head of news at IB3 during a press conference at the Palacio de la Moncloa.
Josep Pons had asked the minister whether the Balearic Islands could potentially take the lead in the deceleration of the lockdown measures, which was immediately shut down by Montero.
She said: “The confinement of the entire country is giving results to combat the pandemic and has allowed us to save lives, so we must not get ahead of ourselves with respect to the Balearic Islands.”
Montero was then pressed on the likelihood of reactivating the region’s tourism sector by opening it up to countries with less COVID-19 infections, such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
In response, she stressed that the government is ‘acting with caution,’ and focusing on first controlling the evolution of the virus in Spain.
Montero went on to explain that the government is working with a group of experts who are creating several different scenarios to progressively return to normality, but that it is too early to speculate on which one will be used.
“It would be premature for the government to make any predictions and whenever a decision is made, it will be based on scientific data.”
It comes as the Balearic Islands has seen a steady decline in COVID-19 infections in the last week, with just 31 people being diagnosed within the last 24 hours.
In another positive sign, multiple ICU units set up for coronavirus patients have now closed, with Menorca seeing 11 days without any new admissions.
In Ibiza, there have been nine days without infected patients entering into intensive care and eight days without any new infections among healthcare professionals.
Son Llatzer Hospital in Mallorca has also closed one of its ICUs due to a significant drop in the number of serious cases.
In Formentera, the island which has achieved the best results in the region, there is only two active cases.
Out of 1,668 confirmed diagnoses, a total of 134 people have lost their lives to coronavirus and 918 patients have been ‘cured.’
