Laurence Dollimore
ANDALUCIA is demanding it be among the first regions in Spain to see its coronavirus restrictions lifted.
Regional president Juanma Moreno is making the appeal to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the weekly meeting of autonomous community leaders today.
His appeal comes as the southernmost region is registering one of the lowest incidences of the disease following a ‘very progressive de-escalation’ since it reached a peak on March 30.
Minister Elias Bendodo praised the region’s handling of the crisis, stating in an interview on Onda Cero that ‘from the first moment’ it has followed the measures laid out in the March 14 royal decree.
He also said people living in the region have excelled in following the lockdown laws while the hospitals were prepared after having had recent relevant experience following last year’s listeriosis outbreak.
“We have a strong and powerful health system that has been far from collapse and was already prepared with the recent experience of the listeriosis crisis,” said Bendodo.
Andalucia reached a peak on March 30 with around 2,800 hospitalised patients. That number has been reduced to less than half. Meanwhile ICU patients have dropped from 480 to 300.
According to Bendodo, that shows the virus is being tackled in a ‘very progressive way’ in Andalucia.
The region now has the second-lowest incidence of the virus on the peninsula, after Murcia.
But any lifting of the lockdown restrictions will not be carried out region-wide, but by provinces and areas, and ‘gradually and progressively,’ reported ABC Sevilla.
That’s good news for Huelva and Almeria, which have been the least hardest hit by COVID-19, but means the most affected, Sevilla and Malaga (including the Costa del Sol), may have to wait longer.
Moreno has revealed that a committee is already studying which areas will be the first to apply to Madrid to be able to lift restrictions.
