The corona risk is “extremely high” on the island, warned regional government chief Francina Armengol Armengol. The number of COVID patients in intensive care units rose by 35 percent to 69 people in one week. One must therefore “prevent negligence and crowds as much as possible,” said the socialist politician.
Among other things, restaurants, cafés and pubs on Mallorca, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago, will have to close on Tuesday even on weekdays at 6 p.m. – i.e. four hours earlier than before. The new restrictions should apply until January 11th. The closing time is brought forward from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m. Grocery stores and shops for basic needs, such as petrol stations, are excluded. There are also stricter requirements for shopping centers and large stores with more than 700 square meters of retail space. They have to close on weekends and on public holidays. The nightly curfew from 10 p.m. will be maintained, but contrary to expectations it will not be relaxed on New Year’s Eve.
Mallorca: From the Spanish Corona model boy to a problem case
The current measures will be retained on the neighboring islands of Ibiza and Menorca. Only on Formentera, the smallest of the four large Balearic Islands, where infections are also picking up, there will be somewhat stricter restrictions from Tuesday.
The Balearic Islands have come through the Corona crisis well for a long time. Since mid-December, the archipelago has been the region with the highest corona numbers in all of Spain. The situation on Mallorca, the most popular holiday island for Germans, is particularly dramatic. There, the number of detected infections per 100,000 inhabitants climbed to 607 within two weeks on Sunday. A week ago, this incidence value in Mallorca was below 400.
The value quantifies how many people become infected with the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen within two weeks. For comparison: According to the EU authority ECDC, this so-called 14-day incidence was last 249 in all of Spain. In Germany it is just under 394. The seven-day incidence, which is often cited as a reference value, recently fell to 161 Status: December 27, 2020). In Spain as a whole, this value is currently 125.
Overall, Spain is one of the countries in Europe particularly affected by Corona. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 1.8 million infections have been detected in the country with around 47 million inhabitants. Almost 50,000 people died in association with the pathogen.
qu/cw (dpa, rtr)
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