The President of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, stated this Wednesday that the decision of the Canary Islands Government to add the antigen test to the PCR as a necessary test to travel to the islands "is not a whim" and he is "convinced" that they will finally be implemented, highlighting that the Balearic Islands have also done so.
In response to a question from NC in the control session, he commented that the Canary Islands Government will defend itself legally as a result of the State Council's report rejecting the Canary Islands decree on antigens and that it will end in a conflict of powers.
Torres stressed that his Government's position "is clear", that they were "pioneers" with the tourism decree that established PCR and antigens as ways to stay in establishments, and that afterwards there was "a clash" with the central Government, which prefers PCR.
Therefore, he stated that the Canary Islands will continue to insist on achieving the "harmonization" of decrees, defending that they have reports from Public Health and the Hospital de La Candelaria that guarantee their "health security".
"It was impossible, the State's criteria are different", he commented, although he highlighted that they act with "political coherence" and "defending the interests of the Canary Islands", with more than 20,000 Canary Islands residents who are going to take the test in laboratories and more than 90,000 calls asking for information. "We will walk to give maximum security", he stressed.
Luis Campos, spokesperson for NC, commented that the Government's decree "was not an improvisation" because "there was political consensus, the business sector requested it" and it had "scientific backing", expressing his surprise at the opposition forces that "have been inciting for a long time" to defend the sovereignty of the Canary Islands before the State "and now they are surprised" because it was carried out without prior consensus.
However, he indicated that the use of antigen tests, although "it is important", has taken a "back seat" after the United Kingdom included the Canary Islands on the 'blacklist' of tourist destinations and Germany and the Netherlands opted for severe lockdowns. Thus, he commented that since the de-escalation began, the Government has been clinging to "hope" to recover the arrival of tourists but "in the end", the important thing is "individual responsibility and mass vaccination".
