Laurence Dollimore
ANDALUCIA has revealed a series of measures for the towns most affected by COVID-19.
Only one town, Casariche, in Sevilla, will be closed down after registering a coronavirus incidence rate of 4,582.1 over the past two weeks.
The town of less than 5,500 inhabitants will have restrictions placed on entering and exiting its borders, with exceptions for work or medical needs.
The municipality’s outbreak is considered ‘out of control’ by the Junta, having clocked 254 new cases over the past 14 days.
Meanwhile 11 people in the town have been hospitalised.
The lockdown-style measures will be in place for two weeks.
Lucena in Cordoba, which also had worrying figures, has avoided similar measures as the ‘evolution has been positive’, Junta spokesman Elias Bendodo explained in a press conference this afternoon.
Meanwhile, a massive testing campaign will be launched in the 11 other towns most affected by the virus.
These are: Pulpi (Almeria); Almodovar del Rio (Cordoba); Jamilena, Los Villares and Linares (Jaen); La Campana, Villaverde del Rio, Arahal and Paradas (Sevilla); Sierra de Yeguas and Villanueva de la Concepción (Malaga).
“In addition, for the municipalities which have a high hospital pressure, it will be the provincial delegate of Health in coordination with the town halls who decide whether to adopt other additional measures,” added Bendodo.
Regional health minister Jesus Aguirre also advised that family or friend meet-ups feature no more than six people, but stressed this was a recommendation when asked to clarify by a journalist.
However he added that the Junta is studying ways to make the rule of six a legal obligation.
It comes after figures revealed that family or friend reunions has been the biggest driving forces behind the second wave in Andalucia, accounting for 80% of new infections since the lockdown ended.
However the Andalucia region as a whole has the fifth lowest incidence rate of the virus in the country, measuring 161.24 cases per 100,000 inhabitants as of Tuesday.
The national average is 290.24 while in the likes of Madrid it is 775.13.
