Month: June 2020

Catalan premier Quim Torra says the region has lifted the state of alarm imposed in mid-March by central authorities. The move, which became effective at midnight, means that Catalonia as a whole will spend just 24 hours in Phase 3. Barcelona and its metropolitan area as well as Lleida only entered Phase 3 yesterday morning, while other parts of the northeastern region did so earlier. Regions in Phase 3 have […]

A major poll says that Spain’s main ruling party has won over new voters since the start of the coronavirus crisis. The survey conducted by Spain’s Center for Sociological Research (CIS) says that 31% of Spaniards would vote for the PSOE Socialist Party today, up from 28% in last November’s elections. The poll also says the PSOE, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have gained an 11% advantage over the […]

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced King Felipe of Spain will lead a ceremony, attended by top EU officials, on July 16 to honour the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic and health workers. Spain is emerging from the three-month lockdown after suffering one the world’s heaviest death tolls from the disease caused by coronavirus. Sanchez told parliament the state ceremony would honour “the compatriots who lost their lives,” as well […]

Six Spanish provinces registered more than twice as many deaths during the coronavirus pandemic as during a regular year, new figures show. Excess fatalities between early March and early June were highest in Segovia (+147%), Madrid (+122%), Guadalajara (+115%), Ciudad Real (+112%), Soria and Albacete (+103%). In these six territories alone, there were 20,542 more deaths than the expected count for a normal year. Eight out of 10 (16,000) deaths […]

The government will allocate 2.5 billion euros to support tourism, extending its efforts to protect key parts of the economy. The new credit line for tourism comes a day after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez presented a 3.7 billion-euro stimulus package for the automotive industry. The two sectors account for about 22% of Spanish gross domestic product. Spain’s government is pumping in aid amid forecasts from the central bank that the […]

Spain’s regions undergo their last phase change today as part of the ongoing deescalation from a coronavirus lockdown that began in mid-March.  Most parts of Spain will enter Phase 3, the last stage before the end of the state of alarm that underpins the confinement measures. The northwestern region of Galicia is moving faster and will transition straight into what is being called “the new normality” by the Spanish government. […]

The Canary Islands are planning to welcome thousands of German tourists later this month before Spain’s borders officially reopen, but want the visitors to be tested for the coronavirus, a source in the archipelago’s government said. The plan, which still needs a green light from the central government in Madrid, follows an initiative by the Balearic Islands, which will start welcoming German tourists on Monday. The main difference is that […]

Internal documents from the Madrid government show that regional officials issued protocols with criteria to exclude some nursing home residents from being transferred to hospitals at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Physicians at healthcare centers were also instructed to apply certain guidelines to determine whether ill people living in their own homes should receive there instead of being taken to hospital. Although there are no official figures yet, newspaper […]