The Canary Islands Government has ordered new, more restrictive measures for the islands with the most cases per inhabitant, pointing to Gran Canaria and also to Lanzarote
The Canary Islands Government has approved a series of measures that increase restrictions for the 'hot zones' of coronavirus spread on the islands - those that exceed 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants - which include closing day centers, limiting all public events to 10 people, bringing forward the closing time for restaurants to 00:00 hours, and making masks mandatory in the workplace.
This was highlighted this Thursday by the president, Ángel Víctor Torres, during a press conference after a Government Council meeting and a subsequent coordination meeting of the security forces, where he stated that for the entire archipelago, it is recommended to limit social gatherings to the cohabiting family environment.
At the moment, he pointed out that only Gran Canaria is within the ratio they have established, although he has stated that "Lanzarote will probably be in the same situation in the next few hours."
"We have decided that in any island area where there are more than 100 positives per 100,000 inhabitants, and for the next 15 days, any type of event or act in which there are more than 10 people will be suspended, whether it be sports, religious, social, cultural... all are suspended," he said.
The decision has also been made to close all non-occupational day centers on the islands that have this ratio of positives, as well as that restaurants must close at 00:00 hours instead of 01:00 as was established until now.
Limit social gatherings
Likewise, it is recommended to all the islands that social gatherings be limited to the scope of stable cohabitation. "That is --he added-- that in the coming weeks we reduce to the maximum contacts outside the family environment."
"We must be aware that outbreaks are occurring in the workplace, where we will also take measures, and in the family and social environment," he insisted.
Similarly, the president explained that another of the measures approved this Thursday is to make masks mandatory in the workplace.
Request 100 trackers from the army
Torres pointed out that the Canary Islands will request about 100 trackers from the Army from the Spanish Government to reinforce the tracking and monitoring of positives on the islands. In this regard, he explained that 9% of the tests carried out in the archipelago are positive.
"We have made a significant effort --he asserted--. In Gran Canaria we have gone from 90 to 158 but we ask to reinforce this work in the face of the increase in positives."
Another of the agreements has been the targeted screening in methods where joint tests are carried out on different people to detect positives, prioritizing the areas where there are more than 100 positives per 100,000 inhabitants.
The sample collection points will also be increased, especially in Gran Canaria. "We had 9 places and we are moving to 15, in places such as the Doctor Negrín Hospital, the Insular Hospital, El Pino or even the ICHH, which will now be places where samples can be collected for analysis," commented the president, who added that the laboratories are open 24 hours a day.
Here, he made special emphasis on the fact that there will be a greater incidence when carrying out the tests and monitoring the residences for the elderly, where for now only two cases of residents have been detected in Gran Canaria.
On the other hand, all the personnel of the local, regional, Civil Guard and National Police forces will be activated "to the maximum" to work in a particularly coordinated manner in places with a higher rate of contagion with the aim of ensuring that the rules are complied with.
Appeals to the responsibility of the Canarians
"I appeal to the social and individual responsibility of the Canary Islands. We are on time and we do not want to go back. We want to recover the previous data and we have had to make drastic decisions. Compliance with the rules is key to health and to the development of our land," Torres asserted.
Finally, he explained that it is impossible to put a policeman next to each islander, so he urged for the "ethical and exemplary" behavior that the Canarian society had during the confinement. "The situation is worrying, and in some islands it is especially so," he concluded.
These decisions have been adopted due to the evolution of covid during the month of August, since the active cases have increased to 3,124, with its epicenter in Gran Canaria, an island in which there are 2,156 patients, far ahead of Tenerife (582), Lanzarote (282), Fuerteventura (70), La Palma (19), El Hierro (10) and La Gomera (5).
The case of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is especially worrying where, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, there are 1,826 active cases in the capital alone. Of these, 83 are admitted to hospital wards, 16 in an ICU, and the remaining 1,727 in home isolation.
