The Governing Council of the Canary Islands has agreed this Thursday to raise the health alert in Lanzarote and La Graciosa to level 4, given the "seriousness" of the Covid situation on the island.
This was announced by the spokesperson for the regional Executive, Julio Pérez, who explained that this will mean restrictions of "greater intensity." Among them, he pointed out that meetings will be limited "to two people" and that "practically all activities must cease at 6:00 p.m., except for essential ones." These restrictions will be specified in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) and will come into effect at 00:00 hours this Saturday.
Pérez clarified that "it is not a lockdown", because this would prevent people from leaving their homes, but he indicated that "there will be very few things to do on the street." The aim is to "restrict mobility and contact" and for people to "stay at home." "Because at six in the afternoon, you either go to the pharmacy or the supermarket or go for a walk alone, because you will not be able to walk with more than one other person," he added.
The spokesperson for the Canary Islands Government stressed that the situation in Lanzarote is "very worrying", especially "because of the speed at which infections and other indicators are increasing." After adding 77 new positives this Thursday, the island currently has 948 active cases of Covid.
Although in recent days daily infections on the island have decreased -after days where they have exceeded one hundred- and Pérez himself has pointed out that this gives "some hope", he insisted that "measures must be taken in Lanzarote, being aware also that they have economic consequences." "We will recover the economy, but for the moment the important thing is to face the health situation," he said.
As for the rest of the islands, Gran Canaria will remain at health alert level 3 and Tenerife and Fuerteventura at level 2. El Hierro will also rise to this level, as announced by Pérez, while La Palma and La Gomera will remain in green traffic light.
