Murcia Today Weekly Bulletin 10th October

Please note; next week there will NOT BE A BULLETIN.

The annual contract is for 48 bulletins, which allows for 4 weeks annual holiday, so we are taking next week off as the holiday normally taken last week of August was cancelled due to the busy covid evolution. As the situation seems to be calming down now and with a bank holiday on Monday, news about anything other than coronavirus is likely to be even more scarce than it has been this week, but should anything important happen, we will of course cover it and send a bulletin. Otherwise, only the daily covid figures will be updated which can be seen on www.murciatoday.com or in the scrolling feeds at the bottom of this page. This break will be taken into consideration when bulletin payments are being processed, so those who have paid for 4, will get 4, regardless of the break next week.

Spain Covid-19

What is the current situation in Spain?

On Friday 2nd October the total number of coronavirus cases in Spain was 789,932, and during the week leading up to that Friday, Spain had reported 73,451, cases, 2,990 cases less than the previous week in which 76,441 cases had been registered.

On Friday 8th October, the Ministry of Health reported the new total as being 861,112, so this week the number of cases reported has been 71,180, a fall of 2271 compared to the previous week. So during the last 2 weeks the number of new cases has fallen by an average of 2630 cases a week, indicating a slight deceleration in the number of new cases and lower than 2 weeks ago.

However, this is still an average of 10,168 new cases per DAY across Spain.

The accumulated incidence rate for the whole country, which calculates the number of cases per 100,000 of population is now 258, although this average figure masks considerable regional variation; at the top of the list is Navarra with 675, followed by Madrid, which will be covered in more detail below, with 540. Below that is the enclave of Melilla on the African coast with 460; Aragón with 381; La Rioja 378; Castilla y León 371; Castilla La Mancha 360; Murcia 342; Ceuta 301; Basque Country 240; Extremadura 219; Catalonia 211; Andalucía 179;Asturias 135; Balearic Islands 121; Galicia 115; Cantabria 107; Valencia Region (including Alicante province) 105; Canary Islands 96.

Whereas a month ago the eyes of the world were on Spain, outbreaks and higher case rates right across Europe mean that Spain is no longer an exception and the UK is now registering similar and higher levels of IA as areas of Spain, for example, Sheffield 427; Newcastle 516; Rochdale 380: last updated on the 6th and already considerably higher in some areas).

In terms of fatalities, the current fatalities count is 32,929, a total of 843 fatalities in the last week, a slight fall of just 11 fatalities compared to the previous week, so fairly consistent, averaging 120 per day.

In terms of hospitalisations, there are currently 10,554 covid patients hospitalised across Spain, an increase of 1.75% as compared to the 10,372,of last week. There are currently 1590 in intensive care this week as compared to 1566 in intensive care units last week.

The average occupacy rate for beds is 8.66% (8.77% last week) and the average occupancy for intensive care beds is 17.91% (17.99% last week).

So, to summarise, this week there has been no dramatic change in the situation from last week, although the overall trend in the number of new cases is lower than that reported 2 weeks ago as can be seen by the graphic above. The number of cases across the country is increasing at a fractionally lower rate than it was 2 weeks ago, but is still high, the hospitalisations are steady, and well within the capacity of the health service to cope, the fatalities are fairly consistent with those reported last week, and the number of recoveries is maintaining the level of active cases at roughly where it was last week.

However, although the number of new cases remains high, we are NOT seeing the same level of deaths as in the spring, as can be clearly seen from the graph above. As mentioned before, this is due to a combination of factors which includes better protection systems for those in care homes, better training, availability of medication, availability of protective equipment, health service being better prepared, the public being more aware and a better preventative system in place to protect the more vulnerable.

Flue season ahead:

The factor which may change the situation is of course, the change in the weather, cooler temperatures leading to a generalised move indoors, with all of the implications this involves.

Heating systems go on, we spend less time outdoors and more time indoors, increasing the chances of a close contact with another infected individual, breathing air in more confined spaces and less open-air environments, colds and flu start to spread, increasing the chances of co-infection through sneezing and the spread of droplets, all reasons why logically, concerns are growing throughout Europe about the onset of the flu season.

We know from scientific research that the combination of flu and covid is more likely to lead to severe complications or even death in more vulnerable individuals, and in spite of the determined efforts of keyboard warriors to put out information to the contrary, we now know that covid leads to significantly higher death rates than flu.

According to official UK figures, three times as many people have died from Covid-19 as have died from flu and pneumonia in England and Wales so far this year, and here in Spain the figure for flu deaths in the whole of the last flu season is only 3990.

However, the Health Ministry is not taking any chances and this year a huge effort is being invested into persuading the most at-risk to get vaccinated against flu, the campaign beginning next week here in Murcia:

Annual flu vaccination campaign begins on Tuesday in the Murcia Region

Last year 70% of the serious flu cases hospitalised in the Murcia Region had not been vaccinated even thought the patients were entitled to a free vaccination.

This year the annual flu campaign begins on Tuesday October 13th and the regional health authority is urging anyone entitled to a vaccine to get themselves vaccinated due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

Regional Health Minister Manuel Villegas said that, "In this season, co-circulation of influenza and covid viruses will occur, and since both viruses can cause complications in the same population groups, vaccination against influenza is especially important to individually reduce the risk of suffering from one of these diseases and also contribute to avoiding a possible overload of the healthcare system .

Influenza and pneumococcal infections are the pathologies that cause the greatest disease and mortality of all those that can be prevented by vaccination," he said.

The regional health authority has brought forward the start of the vaccination campaign by two weeks this year and aims to immunize people at higher risk of complications, as well as people who can transmit the disease to those at high risk of complications.

This year nearly 300 vaccination points have been set up and health centres currently closed in order to concentrate health authority staff into the areas in which they are most needed, will re-open for the vaccination period. Some centres will open in the afternoons as well as the morning in order to limit the possibility of contact between patients.

For the first time this year health service personnel will also vaccinate around 2,500 immobilized or vulnerable people in their homes as well as their carers, and a special programme has been prepared to vaccinate residents of residences for the elderly and disability centers. In order to reinforce the protection of the elderly in these centres, they will be vaccinated with a high antigenic load vaccine, a vaccine marketed for the first time in Spain and which has been reserved for these people. Residents 65 years of age and older will also be vaccinated against pneumococcus in order to provide them with greater protection against respiratory infections.

Anyone over 65 wishing to be vaccinated against pneumococcus must request it from their health center, by phone or online when booking an appointment.

370,000 doses in 2020:
For this season, the Ministry has acquired 265,100 doses to which are added another 105,340 provided by the Ministry of Health, making a total of 370,440 doses available, compared to 240,000 the previous season. The total cost of this year’s influenza and pneumococcal vaccination campaign is 1,387,300 euros, 238,300 more than in 2019.

The campaign is aimed at the particularly vulnerable within the population, such as people aged 60 and over, pregnant women and those who have given birth within the last 6 months, chronically ill patients or those with previous pathologies as well as those who could transmit the virus to high-risk people, such as health professionals and teachers. Flu vaccines for those not considered at risk, but still wishing to vaccinate, can be purchased over the counter in pharmacies for a few euros.

This year the Ministry has set the objective of reaching 75 percent coverage both in people 65 years of age and over and in health personnel.

Pneumococcus (pneumonia)
People who turn 60 during 2020 should protect themselves against pneumococcus if they have not done so previously. In addition, those who were vaccinated in 2015 when they reached 60 should receive a booster dose, so this year the health department has purchased 25,000 doses of pneumococcal vaccines, 5,000 more than in the previous season, which will be administered coinciding with the influenza vaccine to improve pneumococcal vaccination coverage.

Prevention and symptoms
The Health Minister also recommended taking "the same preventive measures that we are already adopting against covid, such as frequent hand washing, especially after coughing or sneezing, since the flu is spread from person to person mainly by droplets of saliva or secretions emitted by coughing or sneezing. "

2019-2020 season
Influenza activity in the 2019-20 season was considered to be “moderate” last year in both the Region of Murcia and in Spain as a whole. Last year the main flu season began in the second week of January, and reached its peak at the end of that month, with 310 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Murcia, higher than the national average of 270. Last year the official figures produced by the national Health Authority estimated that flu caused 3,900 deaths in Spain. In total, 619,000 cases were reported via health centres (flu is a notifiable illness, so all health centres must report their cases to the health authority through a monitoring system) , 27,700 hospitalisations were recorded relating to flu last year, 1,800 people were admitted to intensive care and there were 3,900 deaths in total.

There is still disagreement all over the world as to how the authorities can best protect us against contagion, but the authorities concur on one major fundamental point; Covid-19 requires contact in order to spread.

The economic effects of attempting to limit the spread of Covid-19 by using lockdowns is now known to be devastating for the economy and our mental health, but without a vaccine, limiting the number of opportunities for contact is still generally viewed as being the most effective way of suppressing the spread of the virus until such time as we have a vaccine available, and certainly here in Spain, the authorities continue to opt for movement restrictions and for limiting the opportunities for close contact in areas of activity in which the virus has been proven to thrive, ie night-clubs, discos, leisure bars, busy cafés, social family gatherings, any gatherings of people from different households in which close contact might occur, cultural events etc, trying to keep businesses open but limit the opportunities for the virus to spread.

It is very difficult in Spain to keep the young and healthy away from the more vulnerable elderly, one point often overlooked is the high number of young Spaniards living at home until well into adulthood.

A study published annually in August is the Observatorio de Emancipación Juvenil (Objovem) produced by the Consejo de Juventud de España and this year the study highlighted that here in Murcia only 17% of young adults aged between 16 and 29 had moved out of their parental home. The national percentage is only 18.7% for that age group. The majority of young Spaniards will stay in the family home until they reach 31: in the age group of 30-34, 69.2% had finally left home, but this leaves 31% who were still living with their parents, and in many cases, their grandparents.

It is well documented that the virus has spread this summer through social gatherings, many involving young people, and here in Spain, which has one of the highest percentages of elderly in Europe, keeping the virus away from the elderly is challenging, particularly in the domestic environment as the Spanish are naturally gregarious and love to socialise, the warm climate encouraging many outdoor fiestas and community events.

One of the hardest aspects to bear for many Spanish families has been the cancellation of sociable events and fiestas, which normally involve enthusiastic participation of young people in their peñas, but are also inclusive, with days dedicated to the social inclusion of the elderly.

And this miserable situation will continue for months to come:

Three Kings parades start to fall; Seville confirms cancellation of the grand cabalgata: Semana Santa and the huge April Feria are also under threat for 2021

The thorny topic of Christmas, New Year and Three Kings is being discussed in many town halls around Spain, as difficult decisions are taken to decide whether to prioritise the need to maintain social distancing and beat the coronavirus or to succumb to temptation and enjoy a festive party.

The big parades of the festive season in regional and provincial capitals across Spain are the highlight of the festive season, the huge Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos the most eagerly anticipated, families jamming into the streets solid for the feelgood parade of the festive season, but covid loves nothing more than thousands of people packed together in crowds and town halls are reluctantly trimming back their festive events to ensure that their residents are kept as safe as possible during the festive season.
In 2020 Semana Santa everywhere was cancelled, and the same fate has awaited thousands of fiestas and cultural events right throughout the year. The decision about the future of Semana Santa in Seville will be made in December.

Here in Murcia: Cartagena Carnival 2021 cancelled. Cartagena has joined the list of spring carnivals already cancelled, following Águilas and San Pedro del Pinatar within the Murcia Region, along with the other major carnivals of Spain which have already announced their cancellation.

The organisers hope that there may be a chance to hold an alternative carnival celebration later in the year, but obviously, as with everything else at the moment, it all depends on the evolution of the coronavirus.

Confinements

This leads naturally to the topic of how the Spanish authorities are trying to control Covid-19 through confinements and the potential problems caused by this weekend being a bank holiday, the puente de octubre normally a weekend during which many families head to the coast and holiday homes for a short autumn break.

On Monday the regional Government of Castilla y León decided to confine the cities of Palencia and León as of this Tuesday, October 6th. The two municipalities have more than 100,000 inhabitants and are currently experiencing a high rate of contagion and health pressure from the pandemic.

Zaragoza and Huesca in Aragon going back to phase 2 as preventative covid measure.The regional government is concerned about the forthcoming holidays around 12th October.Zaragoza and Huesca in the Aragón region are returning to phase 2 of the de-escalation between the 8th and 15th as a preventive measure against the possible holding of social gatherings on the holidays surrounding October 12th, normally a major fiesta in the area.

And there are many other examples, with similar measures in 36 provinces of Spain at the last count, with Lorca, Totana and Jumilla here in Murcia remaining in confinement for yet another week, although the number of cases is now dropping rapidly in all three.

And then of course, there's the situation in Madrid:

On Friday the Spanish Government finally decreed a state of emergency/alarm in the the Region of Madrid and imposed an immediate closure order to try and prevent thousands of Madrilenean families from heading to the coast and holiday homes in other regions of the country for the bank holiday weekend.

The Ministry of Health ordered that the confinement be effective before 3:00 p.m. to stop the mass exodus and by mid-afternoon 7,000 additional police resources had been deployed by the Interior Ministry to help the Government maintain order in the capital.

This followed a further week of arguing and negotiations during which the situation in Madrid had continued to deteriorate and the Region of Madrid had become one of the covid hotspots of Europe.

The Government ended the national state of alarm 110 days ago and has since worked with the regional governments to try and bring the coronavirus pandemic until control throughout the country by returning control to the 17 regional governments and their individual health authorities, but finally resorted once again to this mechanism to re-impose an enforced isolation, for at least 15 days, on almost five million people in Madrid.

This situation has been building for the last month, the regional Government of Madrid, run by the PP, coming under mounting pressure from the national Ministry of Health to increase the measures being undertaken to control the spread of the virus in the capital.

One in three cases in the whole of Spain has been reported in the capital and its outlying districts recently, and to put the situation into context for UK readers, the highest indicences in the UK which are causing the recent spate of lockdowns and intensification of measures are being taken based on an accumulated incidence (IA rate) of just over 500 per 100,000 of population; in Madrid this same level of contagion relates to the areas in which four out of five of the 6.5 million inhabitants of the region live and in some areas of the capital the rate has been as high as 1850 cases per 100,000 of population recently.

Regional Prime Minister Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has been fighting with Prime Minister Sánchez for the last month, refusing to impose tighter restrictions. Initially she imposed a confinement order on 850,000 people in the main urban area of Madrid, which was extended a week later to encompass just one million people, a measure deemed insufficient by the national Health Ministry, which decided to itself forcefully impose a confinement order on four fifths of the Madrid population, which has been in place since last Thursday, the 1st October.

However, this week the plan hit an unexpected obstacle on Thursday, when the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (TSJM) courts ruled that the confinement order issued by the Government was not valid due to the mechanism used.

The legality of the mechanisms being used by the regional governments in order to impose confinement restrictions has been causing problems for months, as although in most cases the courts accept the need for the exceptional measures, sometimes an individual judge decides to rule against them, deeming that they restrict freedom of movement and are therefore non-constitutional and therefore illegal.

The Government has been criticised many times for its failure to implement specific legislation relating to the coronavirus situation empowering the regional governments and itself, as it now transpires, to impose a confinement order, and indeed, to make certain acts, such as breaching quarantine legally illegal.

Under the Spanish Constitution, freedom of movement is a constitutional right, so restricting this movement can only be undertaken in exceptional circumstances and is something the Government has been working very hard to avoid. In most cases the courts have backed the exceptional circumstances and ruled that members of the public are not being confined to their homes, and only restrained within a geographical area, so therefore technically, their movement is being restricted, not confined, so have authorised the measures, although in this case they refused to permit the order. The Government could have appealed to the Supreme Court, but this would have taken time and with the urgency of the bank holiday weekend looming and the probability that hundreds of thousands of people would leave the capital on Friday afternoon for a holiday weekend, the Government had very little in the way of alternatives, other than for the regional Government itself to impose an order, something which the regional president has resisted doing from day one.

Pedro Sánchez warned Isabel Ayuso on Thursday that unless she herself implemented a confinement order, he would enforce a state of emergency and, after extending his ultimatum for a few hours, hoping that the regional leader would give in to his demands, he gave the green light for the Council of Ministers, chaired by Vice President Carmen Calvo, to be held at 12 noon and authorized, de facto, the intervention of the region to force a perimeter confinement of the capital of Spain and the nine largest municipalities in the region.

The implementation of the state of alarm was accompanied by the immediate order to reactivate automatically after 3:00 p.m. each and every one of the restrictions that the Ministry of Health had already imposed by force last week and that were in force until Thursday.

This means that perimeter restrictions apply to the urban centre of Madrid and the same outlying areas of the Region of Madrid as were contained a week ago. Residents are not confined to their homes, but must remain with the borders of their municipality.

It must be stressed, the state of emergency applies ONLY to Madrid. Flights in and out of the capital are not affected.

The Madrid situation has been blamed on political infighting, but the whole topic of Covid is being used nationwide as a political tool. One story this week highlighted the situation more clearly than many others, and involved Vox, the far-right party which threatens to de-stabilise PP majorities and coalitions in the next elections:

53,000 flags planted on Valencia beach to commemorate covid dead. However, the gesture was hijacked by those with opposing political views and the far-left ripped the flags out and threw them away.

Unfortunately, the whole covid crisis is causing political disharmony instead of a unified front to fight the spread of the virus, and as usual in Spain, flags are being used to express the political divide.

An initiative by the organisation ANVAC, Asociación Nacional de Victimas y Afectados por Coronavirus ( the Association for the victims of and those affected by Coronavirus) became the focal point for a manifestation of political differences last weekend in Valencia, when the organisation repeated an initiative which gave them huge media coverage the previous week; planting 53,000 Spanish flags, one for every victim of coronavirus.

Although the official fatalities count is just over 30,000, the figures produced by Euro MoMo and the National Statistics Institute do both co-incide that the number of deaths over and above what would normally be expected for the corresponding months, indicate that the number of deaths by coronavirus exceeds the official total by 23,000. The Ministry of Health does accept that this is probably a more accurate fatality count than their own official figures as many deaths in carehomes and the domestic environment were not included in the official figures as the victims were not PCR tested (at that point there simply weren´t the tester kits available.) The Ministry has always said that the true figure will only be known after the event when all of the data from funeral parlours and the civil registry have been cross-referenced.

So for the moment, 53,000 is generally accepted as being a more realistic estimate of the total number of covid deaths in Spain to date.

Last week ANVAC “planted” 53,000 Spanish flags in the Parque Roma de Madrid, a visible spot alongside the motorway, which gave high visibility to their symbolic act, each flag representing a mother, father, brother or sister, a person, not a statistic.

On Sunday morning Valencia city awoke to find 53,000 flags planted in the sand on the playa de La Patacona de Alboraya (Valencia) as a repeat of the Madrid protest.

ANVAC planned to hold a one minute silence at mid-day to honour the victims of the pandemic and remove the flags at 19:00 in the evening, as the sun went down.

"With the light of dawn we honor today in Valencia the memory of our victims. We continue to fight against oblivion. Dignity and justice," the association said in a message posted on Twitter.

Photos of the initiative and messages of support were widely re-shared and re-tweeted by politicians belonging to the PP, Ciudadanos and Vox (far right).

But as news spread of the action and the curious went down to the beach to see the spectacle and photograph, the Frente Obrero Group, a far-left organisation which campaigns for the re-institution of a Republic in Spain, went down to the beach and removed all of the flags, putting them in bin bags, before unfurling a large republican flag on the beach.

Frente Obrero put out a communication saying that “ the association that has carried out this initiative, Anvac, "is linked to Vox, which has already carried out a similar action in Madrid" saying that they had "cleaned the beach of the 50,000 flags put up by Vox", whom they accused of being "homeless and opportunist in the face of the pain of all workers."

PSPV, Compromis and Podemos at this point shared tweets expressing their disappointment that the initiative of ANVAC, which was set up as a non-political group to help all those who have been affected by coronavirus, including those who have suffered financially because of the virus, had “allowed itself to be dragged along by the far right”, by which they mean Vox, which is a rapidly growing political organisation in Spain and has been highly critical of the management of the coronavirus crisis (and of the other political parties which are actually in power and trying their best to deal with the situation) and vocally supported ANVAC and its actions.

The day concluded with the representative of the Spanish government, the Government Delegate, issuing a notice that the Local Police of Alboraia had opened an investigation into the incidents as no official permission had been given for the flags to be planted on the beach in the first place, for which reason, the organisers could now find themselves facing a fine and possible prosecution.
 

Desde ANVAC no permitiremos que se olvide a ninguno de los 53.000 fallecidos por el Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/xpYaqQQTuV

— Asociación de Víctimas y Afectados por Coronavirus (@ANVAC_) September 28, 2020

Support for the initiative was shared on Twitter:

La playa de la Patacona, en Alboraya (Valencia), ofrece este domingo una estampa inédita con más de 53.000 banderas de España plantadas en homenaje a los fallecidos y afectados por el coronavirus, una iniciativa de la asociación nacional de víctimas Anvac que comenzó en Madrid. pic.twitter.com/uMlIAQmIf1

— Julián Gómez (@Nebiros96) October 5, 2020

And then in came the militants from Frente Obrera

#ÚLTIMAHORA Militantes del Frente Obrero arrancan las banderas por las víctimas del Covid de la playa de Valencia https://t.co/bXgOXh19Pm

— El Independiente (@elindepcom) October 4, 2020

Another side-effect of covid:

Three out of four Spaniards are buying more in local shops than a year ago

The coronavirus crisis has changed the way in which many of us view the world in a  variety of different ways, and according to this survey from Mastercard, we’re starting to once again value local businesses as a direct result of the coronavirus crisis.

A survey concludes that;

The majority of the population, 82%, prefers to consume and buy in places run by people that they know

Eight out of ten Spaniards trust the recommendations of local merchants

Three out of every four Spaniards (77%) now buy more in their neighborhood stores than a year ago according to this latest Mastercard study, and the majority of Spaniards (66%) are consciously spending more on local businesses in order to help local communities recover.

31% say that as a direct result they have got to know and related more to the merchants in their neighborhoods and the owners of independent businesses.

Three out of ten Spaniards (29%) said that they trust the recommendations of people in their community, one of the reasons that has helped to promote a preference for local businesses.

Consumption from local businesses has skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic and, according to the results of the study, eight out of ten Spaniards (77%) now value the stores in their neighborhood more. The reasons that have led consumers to discover businesses around them are the limitations of mobility and travel (58%), convenience (37%) and wanting to avoid the queues in large stores (36%) .

A trend that has also been accentuated as a result of the pandemic is to value the local  community of neighbours more. According to the results of the study, six out of ten Spaniards (63%) are more likely to greet their neighbors compared to the previous year. Likewise, one in five (21%) now have additional keys to their house for one of their neighbours, 48% say they are willing to receive their packages and 25% are in a WhatsApp group in the neighborhood.
The research has also revealed that local schools, bakeries, parks, post offices and libraries are the five most valued places in the community in Spain.

There's no doubt that the economy has suffered both here in Spain, in the UK and elsewhere, the travel sector one of the hardest hit. Although the need to suppress the virus is irrefutable, it's also crucial to keep businesses working to prevent the collapse of the economy and the UK Government in particular is under pressure to change its stance on travel and keep the sector alive. The UK accounts for at least 20% of Spanish tourists (obviously depending on the year) so although the UK economy has obviously benefitted from the summer staycations plan, Spain has lost billions in tourism revenue.

There has been a glimmer of hope this week:

Travel between UK and Spain may not require 14 day quarantine for much longer:UK taskforce to examine the possibility of introducing covid testing instead of quarantining

Normally at this time of year those with free time are leaving the rainy shores of the UK and heading abroad for a little winter sun, Spain and its offshore islands a popular destination, particularly with the more mature, but the 14 day quarantine which must currently follow even the shortest of holidays is a huge deterrent.

Right along the Spanish costas thousands of hotels, bars and restaurants have taken the decision to close rather than try to struggle through the winter when there are virtually no tourists to be seen, airlines have given up trying to fill half-empty planes and have reduced their services to survival-level, changing destinations to improve the chance of selling more seats and forcing passengers to drive considerably longer distances in order to find a flight closer to their home/holiday apartment and many expat businesses have gone into hibernation for the winter rather than continue to pay staff wages throughout what will undoubtedly be a very quiet six month period.

And it’s not just hitting businesses working in holiday destinations in Spain and other countries; airlines, airports, the vast workforces which service the airline industry through catering, refuelling,transport, booking systems,travel agents, all those working in the tourism sector, tens of thousands of cabin crew and ground services, all face the prospect of unemployment in the UK if nothing changes in the immediate future.

But there is a chance that the UK government may modify its stance towards the 14-day quarantine and a taskforce has been set-up to consider alternative options, including, according to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, the possibility of introducing a Covid-19 testing system for those travelling to the UK, which could be used in conjunction with a shorter quarantine period.

Travellers would be obliged to pay for their own tests in order to avoid impacting NHS capacity, but it would be a solution for those who want to travel but are unable /unwilling to spend two weeks in quarantine afterwards.

It’s not clear at the moment how long passengers would have to quarantine but as an increasing number of countries reduce their own quarantine periods to seven or ten days, and increasing scientific evidence points to symptoms showing within a 7 day period in the very large majority of cases, it does indicate that there is room for manoeuvre within the current 14 day quarantine structure.

The travel and airlines sectors have been lobbying hard for the quarantine system to be replaced altogether by a testing system, as is starting to occur in other countries, saying this would save jobs and help the sector to survive through the pandemic.

When presenting the Global Travel Taskforce, Mr Shapps said: "The current measures at the border have saved lives. Our understanding of the science now means we can intensify efforts to develop options for a testing regime and help reinvigorate our world-leading travel sector.

"This new taskforce will not only help us move towards safer, smoother international travel as we continue to battle this virus but will also support global connectivity - helping facilitate more Covid-secure travel whilst protecting the population from imported cases."

The group is expected to report back to Number 10 in November.

Let’s hope it’s a positive outcome as the end of the quarantine system can´t come soon enough for many businesses here in Spain and for those desperate for a spot of winter sun.

Murcian hotels offer 30-50% discount for Murcian residents after the Bank Holiday weekend: Click for info

Murcia Covid:

On Friday 18th September the Murcia region had 7097 active cases

On Friday 25th the Murcia Region had 8,127 active cases, an increase of 1030 active cases in a week.

On Friday October 2nd the Murcia region had 8,240 active cases, a significantly lower rise in active cases of only 113 in the last week.

On Friday October 9th the Murcia Region had 8,584 active cases, a rise of 344 active cases in the last week.

Number of cases reported:

Friday 18th September; Total cases to date 15,806  (3328 new cases in a week)

Friday 25th September;Total cases to date 18,999 ( 3193 new cases in a week)

Friday 2nd October; Total cases to date  21,612 ( 2613 new cases in a week)

Friday 9th October; Total cases to date 24,450 (2838 new cases in a week)

These figures show that although the rate of the increase in the number of cases is slower than it was three weeks ago, that this week there has been a resumption in the upward motion of the total number of new cases being diagnosed.

By municipality on Friday: Note, the first figure shown is the actual number of cases diagnosed in the last 7 days, the second is the IA rate for the last 7 days (number of cases per 100,000 of population): In brackets the number of cases is indicated as either a positive or negative compared to the situation on Thursday when this breakdown was last published, taking into consideration that patients are recovering and being removed from the list all the time)

Abanilla 39/636 (+6) ( This means 39 cases in the last week and an IA rate of 636, so way above average, with 6 new cases since the last figures were published yesterday)
Abarán 15/115 (+4)
Águilas 63/178 (-2)
Albudeite 0
Alcantarilla 61/145 (-3)
Aledo 3/293 (+1)
Los Alcázares 16/99 (+2)
Alguazas 20/207 (+3)
Alhama de Murcia 42/207 (-12)
Archena 63/326(+1)
Beniel 17/150 (+4)
Blanca 6/91 (+2)
Bullas 9/78 (+6)
Calasparra 4/39 (+1)
Caravaca de la Cruz 23/89 (-1)
Cartagena 226/105 (+28)
Cehegín 10/66 (+9)
Ceutí 22/186 (-12)
Cieza 48/137 (+21)
Fortuna 72/712 (+6)
Fuente Álamo 46/378(+4)
Jumilla 97/375 (+1)
Librilla 3/56 (0)
Lorca 486/514 (-19)
Lorquí 6/84 (+3)
Mazarrón 30/93(+5)
Molina de Segura 148/205 (+7)
Moratalla 0/0 (0)
Mula 33/195 (-2)
Murcia 703/155 (+23)
Ojós 0/0 (0)
Pliego 4/104 (0)
Puerto Lumbreras 31/201 (+4)
Ricote 0/0 (0)
San Javier 63/193 (-10)
San Pedro del Pinatar 30/117 (+10)
Santomera 41/253 (+8)
Torre Pacheco 70/196 (-23)
Las Torres de Cotillas 38/177 (+7)
Totana 269/840 (-18)
Ulea 0/0 (0)
La Unión 6/29 (-2)
Villanueva del Río Segura 1/34 (0)
Yecla 31/90 (-1)
Those from other regions diagnosed in Murcia 54
Total 2951 . Acumulated IA rate in the last 7 days: 197

Fatalities:
The total fatalities are now 229 since the start of the pandemic, with 12 fatalities this week .

Image: Hospitalisations, blue are covid admissions, red intensive care
Hospitalisations:This week there has been more than a 10% increase in hospitalisations in the region, rising from 324 last week to 368 this Friday, with the number in intensive care falling from 71 last week to 66 on the 9th October.
There are 8216 patients in home isolation with mild symptoms this Friday, as opposed to 7,916 last week.

Image: Accumulated incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants; The IA rate for the region over 7 days is now 197 per 100,000 head of population, having risen from 181 last Friday. 12 of the 45 municiplities exceed the average rate for the region; Totana with 840; Fortuna 712; Abanilla 636; Lorca 514; Jumilla 378; Archena 326; Aledo 293; Fuente Álamo 277; Santomera 253; Alguazas 2017; Molina de Segura 205; Puerto Lumbreras 201.

Totana is clearly the municipality with the highest rate per capita. Totana, Jumilla and the urban area of Lorca remain in confinement for a further week.
 

Recoveries:

379 patients have been given the all-clear in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries up to 13,931. This means 2482 patients have been given the all-clear this week.

Other Murcia news:

Firemen extinguish agricultural fire in Cieza: Click here

Nearly 300 illegal migrants intercepted off Murcian coastline this week

On Tuesday evening and in the early hours of Wednesday morning 73 irregular Algerian migrants in 6 boats reached the Murcian coastline.

By Wednesday evening the total increased to 270 irregular Algerian migrants in 20 boats and then on Thursday, two further boats were detected, bringing the total to 297 and 22 boats within a 48 hour period. Virtually all of the migrants were male,but in the last boat detected off the coast of Cabo Tiñoso the 17 migrants included 9 adult men, 6 women and 2 children.

All of the migrants are reported to be of Algerian nationalty, which makes them irregular economic migrants, not refugees, and therefore subject to expulsion orders and repatriation to their country of origin.

All have been taken to the Escombreras docks where they will be tested for coronavirus and hospitalised/quarantined as appropriate.

Work to resume on excavations of Roman Ampitheatre in Cartagena.

The stop-start process of excavating the Roman Ampitheatre which lies buried beneath the old bull ring in Cartagena is to resume again and council workers have begun with a big clean-up of the site, removing the accumulated rubbish and weeds which have made the site such an eyesore for the last few months.

The oval-shaped Roman amphitheatre in Cartagena was built on the eastern side of the Cerro de la Concepción hill during the Flavian dynasty, which lasted from 69 to 96 AD, and is believed to have held up to 11,000 spectators. In 1854 the city’s bull ring was built on top of its remains, although nowadays the arena itself is in a state of semi-ruin and partial demolition work began in 2008.

The huge amphitheatre still lies almost completely buried, and little progress has been made towards unearthing it, and making it a major tourist attraction, with lack of money always being the main stumbling block.Now the Town Hall is ready to resume phase II of the Roman Amphitheater project, which corresponds to the south quadrant and will allow the recovery of the maritime facade of the site.

Cleaning, clearing and conditioning work of both the interior and exterior areas has been carried out, so that the works can begin. The council has budgeted 330,578 euros for this project, to which must be added the 4,322 euros for cleaning and the 3,129 euros for the archaeological supervision contract . Click for full article

Trial of two former Mazarrón Mayors suspended due to lawyer testing covid positive.The trial of two former Mazarrón Mayors and three former councils has been temporarily suspended this week following the confirmation that one of the key lawyers involved in the case has tested positive for coronavirus.

Those involved are accused of a continuous crime of prevarication for the alleged awarding of works contracts for just over 413,000 euros without respecting the regulations.

Magistrate Andrés Carrillo explained that the lawyer concerned notified the courts on Tuesday evening that she had tested positive for coronavirus would be unable to attend court on Thursday.
The president of the court that is trying the case, Augusto Morales, acknowledged that the hearing's agenda "is overflowing" and that it was impossible to anticipate a new date for the appointment.

Former mayors Ginés Campillo, current vice-mayor and belonging to the political formation Unión Independiente de Mazarrón (UIDM), and Francisco García, who was head of the PSOE list and is now an independent representing the CLI-ASparty. The former councilors who will also be tried are Isidro Coy and Andrés Valera, both from UIDM, and Juan Miguel Muñoz (CLI-AS). The alleged cooperators are Juan Pedro M. B., José Baltasar N. S. and Bartolomé M. B.

In its provisional conclusions, the Office of the Prosecutor has requested the penalty of ten years of special disqualification from public employment or from holding public office for each one of them; in the case of the first five, as authors, and for the other three, as necessary cooperators.

Fines for those climbing over the new fence protecting the Bolnuevo Erosions. Click to read

Other Spanish news:

Most wanted UK fugitive who kidnapped and tortured trafficker arrested in Orihuela, Alicante. Click to read

Sofa in the middle of the A-7 in Almería causes accident. Calls to inform Emergency Services that a sofa had been sighted in the middle of the motorway soon changed to calls informing that two cars had collided with it. Click to read

Property news:

Covid failing to cause a crisis in the Murcian property rentals sector. Rental housing in the Region of Murcia has increased in price during the third quarter of 2020. The price of rental housing in the Region of Murcia grew by an average of 1.7% during the third quarter of the year: Click to read

Sales of domestic property in Spain recover slightly during August: Domestic property sales across Spain fell 12.7% in August, the smallest decline since March, according to registrars: Figures relating to the sale of all types of property, land and homes have been somewhat distorted by the coronavirus pandemic here in Spain, particularly during the lockdown months, but the August figures are starting to lean towards normality and show that the number of transactions was not as badly affected by the pandemic as in preceding months.

The sale of homes registered with the national Property Registry totalled 29,671 in August, which is 12.7% less than in the same month of 2019, the smallest drop since March, when the pandemic started to hit transactions relating to not only the sale of private properties, but also businesses and land, according to the real estate registry statistics of the College of Registrars.

This does however, mean that there were some 4,300 fewer home sales across Spain than in the same period of 2019, when before the pandemic almost 34,000 transactions were recorded. Click for full article

Spanish house prices fell 2.8% in the third quarter due to Covid according to Gesvalt.This valuations agency agrees with other sources that the rental market is performing better than the sales market
The price of housing in Spain has fallen by 2.8% in the third quarter compared to the same period of the previous year due to the impact of the coronavirus, according to the latest Gesvalt housing report, a conclusion which agrees with the observation of Tinsa last week.

The valuation company believes that this decline consolidates the downward trend in the cost per square meter, which "has reversed the upward trend that had been observed in recent years."
They highlighted in their quarterly report for the third quarter of 2020 that purchase and sale operations have been reduced by 25.1% during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2019, due in no small part, to the covid lockdowns.

All areas of the country have also experienced declines in housing prices during the third quarter. The most marked decreases have been registered in the Valencian Community (-4.2%), Galicia (-3.5%), Catalonia (-3.2%) and Andalusia (-3%).

The Balearic Islands have continued to be the most expensive region (2,293 euros per square meter), followed by the Basque Country (2,215 euros) and Madrid (2,195 euros), compared to Extremadura (816 euros) and Castilla-La Mancha ( 853 euros), which have remained the cheapest.
Gesvalt considers that property rentals have shown a better year-on-year performance than sale prices. Barcelona, with an average price of 16.66 euros per square meter per month, has once again topped the ranking in terms of the highest rental prices in Spain.

The EU statistics office released its second quarter figures this week, which show house prices up by 5.0% in the euro area and 5.2% in the EU during second quarter of 2020. In the first quarter 2020 house prices rose by 5.1% and 5.6% respectively.

Among the Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in house prices in the second quarter of 2020 were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.3%), Poland (+10.9%) and Slovakia (+9.7%), while prices fell in Hungary (-5.6%, see note under the table) and Cyprus (-2.9%).
Compared with the previous quarter, the highest increases were recorded in Luxembourg (+4.4%), Italy (+3.1%) and Austria (+2.5%), while decreases were observed in Hungary (-7.4), Estonia (-5.8%), Latvia (-2.3%), Bulgaria (-1.1%) and Ireland (-0.1%).

In Spain the figure is +2.2% and in the UK the figure is +1.2%. This ties in with reports issued in Spain from valuers, who indicate that house prices in Spain rose in the second quarter as the sales being completed were already “in the system” but that by the third quarter of the year prices had started to fall due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus.

Extension of off-plan claims deadline until December 26th: Anyone who paid deposits for a Spanish property which was never built has a little longer in which to make a claim

This week the deadline for those who were affected by the number of bankruptcies and frauds perpetrated during the Spanish property boom, paid a deposit for a property off-plan which was never actually built,and are trying to reclaim money from the banks which guaranteed now bankrupt promotors, should have concluded.

However, the covid crisis has caused a significant delay in courts across Spain, so the Government has decided to prolong the period during which claims can be made until the 26th December 2020.

Anyone who paid money for a deposit on an off-plan property which was guaranteed by a bank before January 1st, 2016 and was never built, can claim.

There are believed to have been more than 600,000 clients who lost their deposits due to paralyzed work projects throughout Spain, many of them foreigners, and certainly here in the Region of Murcia we have several examples.

Trampolin Hills was one of the most publicised, and those who paid bank deposits on this development have won compensation through the courts, mainly because most of the buyers were Spanish nationals from Murcia city who got together and pushed through a group action to reclaim their money. Nearby was the Santa Ana del Monte urbanisation in Jumilla which was never built, the Tres Molinos development, the Isla del Fraile and others built by Polaris World, all of which ended with the bankruptcy of the developer.

Just in Murcia there are believed to have been 120,000 affected by the bankruptcies, and around 40,000 have never lodged a claim or tried to recover their lost deposits, deterred by the drawn-out process and the fear of throwing good money after bad.

In truth, not all claims prosper, as a lot depends on the determination of the purchaser but 85% have.
So if you did lose money on an off-plan property that was never built, the deadline is now December 26th for those wishing to initiate a claim.

Thank you for your support and have a good week!