Cristina Hodgson
THE Ministry of Health and Families of the Andalucian Regional Government have voted against the proposal presented by the central government to restrict mobility.
The proposal, voted on Wednesday, was to restrict mobility in municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants with more than 500 cases of COVID-19.
In addition to Andalucia, the autonomous communities of Madrid, Galicia and Catalunya, as well as the autonomous city of Ceuta have also rejected the proposal presented by the Ministry of Health.
The document presented by the central government has now been transferred to the Public Health Alert Committee for revision.
The draft put forward by the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, to the Autonomous Communities contemplated restricting the entry and exit of people living in municipalities with more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, such as Madrid.
Restriction would also be put in place in the autonomous community where the occupation of hospital beds in Intensive Care Units (ICU) increased by 35% compared to pre-COVID- 19 numbers.
However, as in the case of Madrid, the Capital is prepared to increase hospital capacity if necessary, furthermore Madrid is a group of 21 districts, 18 of which have more than 100,000 inhabitants, therefore rates cannot be applied, as a whole, to the entire city.
Andalucia has highlighted the importance of taking into account the real healthcare capacity of each of the municipalities.
In a statement, the Andalucian Government Minister of Health and Families Jesus Aguirre, said that “Andalucia voted against this document because it was rejected by the Andalucian technicians and experts at the Public Health and Health Alerts.”
“It is essential that agreed measures are adopted to prevent the transmission of the virus, but these measures must come from the technicians, not from the politicians, and include all possible scenarios and indicators for an effective and coordinated response,” he said.
