The Government Council of the Canary Islands has approved this Thursday the temporary suspension of all the restrictions that remained in force against Covid by the regional Executive, as President Ángel Víctor Torres had already announced.
The measure will be published this Friday in the Official Gazette and will come into effect from Saturday morning and, in principle, until April 30. However, the Government warns that this suspension is "conditional in each island to the fact that there is no significant change in the trend that indicates an uncontrolled circulation of SARS-CoV-2 or a change in the epidemiological situation".
In this regard, the Executive points out that although the incidence is still currently high, hospital pressure is not being registered, which they attribute to the progress of vaccination. "The surveillance and control structures will remain operational to monitor the key indicators that allow detecting changes in epidemiological patterns, the appearance of new variants or a greater impact on the care system," they add. Thus, if an unfavorable evolution were detected on any island, the reactivation of the restrictive measures could be determined for that territory.
Suspended measures
According to the agreement adopted, as of March 26, all the measures contemplated in Decree Law 11/2021 cease to be in force, that is, those related to capacity, closing hours and limitation in the number of people allowed in meetings.
In addition, it is no longer necessary to have prior authorization for holding mass events and the prohibition on holding popular festivals and parties is suspended.
The prohibition of smoking and the sale and consumption of food or beverages on public roads is also eliminated. Finally, nightlife and sports and cultural activities may be carried out under the same conditions as before the start of the pandemic.
However, it is recalled "the importance of maintaining the recommendations for preventing transmission in force, such as the use of masks indoors, hand washing, ventilation and taking extreme care and preventing transmission to vulnerable people".
Changes in alert levels
In addition, the criteria governing alert levels will also be modified, in line with what was approved this week by the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System. Thus, from now on they will be based only on the occupation of hospital beds, without the influence of new confirmed Covid positives.
In fact, from now on, tests will no longer be done in a general way, and will only be done to those who present serious symptoms or to vulnerable people, such as people over 60 years of age or immunocompromised, as well as health and social health personnel.
Currently, all the islands are at low risk in the occupation of ICU beds, except Gran Canaria, which oscillates between medium and low; while in conventional beds, Gran Canaria and Tenerife are at medium risk, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote oscillate between medium and controlled circulation, La Palma is at high risk and El Hierro and La Gomera in controlled circulation.
The rate of new hospitalizations due to COVID-19 is at a low risk level in Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma and in controlled circulation in the rest of the islands.
