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The curfew will now begin at 11 PM and the hotel and retail businesses will now close at 10:30PM.
“The data is worrying. The incidence rate in Andalucía has dropped by 20 points in the last two weeks, while in the previous two weeks it went down by more than 300. After analysing the situation with the Committee of Experts, I will be able to announce whether we will modify any of the measures”.
This was a tweet which the President of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, sent out just minutes before the conference began, which made everyone fear the worst… And with this, Andalusians waited impatiently to find out whether movement between provinces within the Autonomous Community will be allowed or not during Holy Week (Semana Santa).
At 20:30, the President of the Andalusian Government appeared at the press conference podium to announce that the perimeter closure between the 8 Andalusian provinces will remain in force until after Easter. Therefore, people are still not able to leave the province where they live without a “valid reason”.
The start of the curfew has been moved forward from 22:00, to 23:00 until 06:00, and shops and bars and restaurants can remain open until 22:30. Groups of up to six people are now allowed to gather outdoors, and only four people can gather indoors.
These new measures will come into effect on Friday the 19th of March and will continue until April the 9th.
Juanma Moreno said that, despite an entire year passing since the pandemic was declared, the situation “continues to be just as serious and unpredictable. This must be taken seriously, without frivolity. The virus remains among us. Although the vaccine is being rolled out, we are still far from being able to say that we have the situation under control.”
The president of the Junta de Andalucía added that he wanted to remain prudent and pleaded for understanding “because important dates like Semana Santa are approaching. I am aware that people have high expectations, but decisions must be made based on the data and advice from the experts. We are in a better place than we were a month ago, but we are not doing very well. The curve has not finished its decline. We are at a kind of plateau with a possibility of a rise next week.”
He also highlighted that the so-called British variant is prevalent in some provinces, such as Almería, and that the South African strain has been found in Andalucía, which he says causes “setbacks in vaccination, which is not going at the rate that we would like, and we only have 4.4% of the population vaccinated in Andalucía”.
“My government and I have been racking our brains to anounce an exit strategy. This decision may not be understood and can be disappointing but following the advice we have received from the Committee of Experts, the provincial closure of all 8 provinces in Andalucía will remain until after Easter”, he added.
Covid-19 Figures
Within the Campo de Gibraltar, there are currently no perimeter closures between municipalities. In La Línea, the incidence on March 17 is 64.4 cases per 100,000 people. In Los Barrios, the rate is now at 96.7; in Castellar, 65.4 and in Tarifa it stands at 33. The worst figures are coming from Jimena de la Frontera, with a rate of 328, followed by Algeciras with 144.6 and San Roque with 110.9.
In the province of Cádiz, 83 new cases and 6 deaths have been registered in the last 24 hours. Of these new cases, 28 have been detected in the Campo de Gibraltar: Algeciras (12), La Línea (7), San Roque (6), Tarifa (2) and Los Barrios (1). One more death has been registered in Algeciras.
