The deputy of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, Marcos Hernández, advocated this Tuesday [22] in the Plenary Session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands for launching PCR tests as soon as possible at the origin and destination of tourists who visit the islands to “save” the winter season. “That is the goal we have to set for ourselves, and if that means launching the tests, we will have to do it.”
Hernández spoke at the appearance requested by the socialists to the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, on the performance of PCR tests, and warned that the Canary Islands “has a lot at stake” when it comes to guaranteeing health security. “It is true that the WHO did not accommodate the development of these tests at the time, but we must also be able to restructure our economy, and if we must go through the tests to do so, it must be a complementary element.”
The socialist deputy considered territorialization as “fundamental” to improve epidemiological data and establish these safe corridors between the Canary Islands and the rest of the countries, as established in May through a proposal within Europe to recover tourist mobility, based on singularity and not generalizing in the destination. “The Canary Islands are framed within this singularity to establish safe corridors, which would allow reopening at least 60% of the hotels and tourist activity on the islands.”
In addition, he recalled the commitment reached by the President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, on September 11 with the Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto, in which he guaranteed that there will be tests for tourists at origin and destination to create safe tourist corridors for the winter season, as well as the joint document that will be approved on September 28 with the tourism ministers of the member countries of the European Union “with the aim of maintaining security in Europe and that not only the criteria of Covid cases are taken into account, but also the impact on the territories.”
“It is here that we have to make a call to our tourism to continue in the line of controlling the pandemic through the population, because this territorialization will be fundamental for the future to establish these safe corridors, which will be guaranteed with epidemiological control,” he explained.
According to Hernández, what is being discussed within the framework of the EU is the harmonization of mobility criteria within borders, “basically around defending a safe environment, avoiding, on the one hand, using only the cumulative incidence index, and on the other hand, territorialization.”
Likewise, he recalled that another of the commitments of the Minister of Tourism is the exclusive tourism plan for the Canary Islands through the General State Budgets. “There has been little talk about this, but it is also fundamental.”
Finally, he stressed that we must not forget “that this territorialization, this singularity to establish safe corridors, will depend on the behavior and commitment of each of us so that the control of epidemiological data continues to be that of the last days.”
