These are difficult times for Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez. The number of coronavirus cases have spiraled since his government eased the lockdown. New cases had slowed to a trickle in June, before a nationwide lockdown was lifted, but since then more than 280 clusters have been detected, with wealthy Catalonia the worst affected, leaving hotels largely empty and bars shutting down. Health ministry data showed 2,615 new cases across Spain on Thursday, compared with a daily average of just 132 in June. The Sanchez government is coming under pressure to introduce yet more restrictions and parts of the country have already returned to lockdown.
The Balearic government made the face mask compulsory, a move which allegedly led to a big drop in holiday bookings to the islands. Sanchez has a difficult decision to make; his government can introduce more restrictions but this will directly impact on the tourist industry. The President of the Balearic government, Francina Armengol, has said that she will not put the health of the people of the Balearics in danger for economic reasons. These are wise words. As I have said on numerous occasions in this space I do believe that the Spanish government did ease the lockdown too early but ofcourse there were valid economic reasons and the number of cases had fallen. Now comes the difficult part. What to do next? Difficult times and even more difficult if you are Prime Minister.