Laurence Dollimore
ANDALUCIA is demanding special powers to be able to lockdown towns if they become overrun with coronavirus.
Junta president Juanma Moreno has asked Madrid for a ‘quick and agile mechanism’ to confine areas or municipalities if and when necessary.
The Partido Popular says there is a hole in the current process as the locking down of areas relies on ‘legal uncertainty’ given that a judge must sign off on the plan before it is approved by congress.
“To do this, we must ask for an extraordinary session in congress before defending the measure in Madrid, which means a week goes by,” he told Canal Sur radio.
Moreno is asking for a quicker and easier process, although he did not provide a detailed alternative.
Meanwhile, he insisted that Andalucia has no plans to ask for permission to install a region-wide state of alarm.
The Junta chief said the southernmost region is currently performing much better than the rest of Spain.
“We must remain concerned and vigilant but the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in the past 14 days is 97 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a nationwide average of 190,” he said, “And we are at the bottom of the incidence table, after Asturias and Extremadura, despite being the most populated community.”
Moreno blamed the rapid resurgence of infections in August due to the influx of national and international tourists.
He remained confident that the numbers will begin to fall as summer comes to an end.
He said: “The fact that Andalucia has been the community that has received the most visitors this summer has meant more travelling and meeting of people and, consequently, a higher risk of contagion.”
Spain has ruled out a nationwide state of alarm similar to the one seen in March.
However it has told the autonomous regions they can request to install a state of alarm if they feel they are becoming overwhelmed by the so-called ‘second wave’ of COVID-19.
