Cristina Hodgson
THE Junta has announced that the new measures to be implemented after the state of alarm ends will be discussed at this week’s meeting of the Advisory Council on High Impact Public Health Alerts (the so-called committee of experts).
Once the national state of alarm expires on May 9 2021, all current restrictive measures such as the night curfew, the perimeter lockdowns and the maximum of six people in meetings will end.
Regional governments may continue to impose restrictive measures, but only if passed by their Superior Courts of Justice.
According to Junta chief, Juanma Moreno, without the legal umbrella of the state, ‘AndalucIa has its hands tied in the fight against the pandemic.’ adding that the decision on the restrictions would be in the hands of a judge where ‘precious time will be lost.’
For example in the given scenario where the incident rate in a municipality is above 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, without the state of alarm the Junta will have to decree the confinement and then submit these proposals to the TSJA (The High Court of Justice of Andalucia) who will then have to refer it to a court and finally a judge will decide on an outcome.
To avoid legal delays, the Junta is studying a modification to the public health law which would give it more powers from Sunday, 9 May.
As claimed by Jesus Aguirre, Minister for Health in Andalucia, the Junta does not consider that the state of alarm should be extended, but ‘tools are needed at regional level to continue with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.’
Speaking to journalists in Seville, the Vice-President of the Regional Government, Juan Marin, said that the Junta has already received proposals from the different sectors which will be ‘merged’ and present on Wednesday to the Advisory Council for High Impact Public Health Alerts.
Marin has said that there is currently no health situation in Andalucia to request a state of alarm, but “alternatives must be found to avoid having to go through lengthy judicial decisions.’
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