The Government may reject Madrid’s request to move to Phase 1 of the de-escalation of coronavirus restrictions.
Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Minister of Health for the Community of Madrid has forwarded the necessary documentation to Spain’s Health Minister, Salvador Illa, but insiders say the Government is not keen to let the capital relax the rules just yet.
Minister Illa and Minister Escudero are due to address the issue and discuss the indicators contained in the report at a telematic meeting on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Health, 29% of coronavirus cases in Spain are in Madrid, which has also confirmed 8,504 fatalities in hospitals, 5,876 suspected coronavirus deaths in Residences, 835 deaths at home and 24 elsewhere, which means the total number of Covid-19 deaths in Madrid is 15,239.
Minister Illa has already made it clear that Regional Health Ministers in Spain will be held personally responsible for the de-escalation measures they recommend.
“The Government and the communities have to act with responsibility when de-escalating the restrictions,” he said, and warned that "the proposer must be responsible for what he advises” when referring to the initiatives proposed to move to phase 1.
"The numbers are obvious that Madrid and Barcelona are the two territories that have been worst hit by the disease." said Second Vice-President of the Government, Pablo Iglesias. "It doesn’t take a great expert to conclude that perhaps it is reasonable that they are the territories where de-escalation should move at a slower rhythm."
Government sources claim that some of the indicators presented by Castilla y León are also too high to move to Phase 1 and say that data is currently being analysed.