Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Dec 4
Featured articles: EasyJet refunds UK passengers unable to meet Spanish travel rules as Several new traffic laws come into effect in Spain.
It’s not many people who study Greek these days (except probably Greek schoolchildren), but we’re all starting to become experts on, and slightly terrified of, certain letters of the Greek alphabet.
First it was Delta (Δ) that had everyone shaking in their boots, and now it’s the Omicron (Ο) variant of coronavirus that is causing worldwide panic as it’s allegedly more contagious than any previous mutation of the 2019-nCov virus. It hardly bears thinking about what will happen when we get to Omega (Ω) – the end of days, perhaps?
If it is, we’re determined to document it, and here’s the bumper Omicron edition of the Editor’s Roundup Weekly Bulletin to prove it.
Coronavirus restrictions and travel changes
As a general rule, viruses tend to be less lethal and dangerous the more infectious they are, while the deadliest viruses are harder to catch. Thus, just about everyone has had the common cold at some point or another and not suffered any serious or lasting consequences from it, whereas only about half of the few people who have had Ebola have lived to tell the tale.
So it is with Omicron, which at first sight appears to be far more contagious than previous incarnations of Covid, but is not leaving too many seriously ill victims. Though it is still an extremely new strain of coronavirus and not much is known about it yet, early indications suggest that most people who have caught Omicron so far have been adults in the younger age bracket, and are not being hit particularly hard by it.
Still, the unknown is always scary, and that’s why national governments, regional authorities and private enterprises the world over are being particularly cautious when it comes to Omicron.
Spain has changed its international travel rules as of this week, having suspended all flights from South Africa, where the strain was first discovered, as well as many other countries in southern Africa in addition to now demanding that travellers from other places outside the European Union present a vaccine cert before being allowed entry. Anyone aged 12 or over coming into the country from outside the EU will now need to be fully vaccinated and show a vaccination certificate, colloquially known as the ‘Covid passport’. Before it was enough to have a negative PCR test or to prove you have had coronavirus recently, but now restrictions are being tightened up in the wake of not only the recent mutation of coronavirus, but also rapidly rising infection rates.
This puts a spanner in the works for those who haven’t had both their vaccines yet, then. Anyone who had already bought their trip to Spain will suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of a sudden change in rules through no fault of their own. This includes children between 12 and 18 years old, who in many places have only had time to receive their first jab. In an uncharacteristic display of Christmas spirit, easyJet have offered to ease the burden on families considerably by allowing free cancellation and full refunds for those with children aged between 12 and 18 who are affected by these new changes. Customers with children who will not be vaccinated in time to enter Spain and have trips booked up until December 31 will be eligible for the refund, but families need to be quick as the offer expires at midnight on December 5. Bah, humbug!
The UK, for its part, have bumped their Day-2 rapid test requirement up to a PCR. Anyone aged 12 or over coming into the country from abroad now need to do a full PCR test (which can be booked online at authorised providers), whether or not they are vaccinated. Depending on the results of the PCR, travellers will either have to self-isolate for 10 days or not.
For travel to the USA, it is necessary to present both a vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test from the last 72 hours, while in many regions of Germany the Covid passport is being demanded on public transport, while a recent negative test is needed just to get into a restaurant in Berlin.
In the Region of Murcia, too, new restrictions are being put in place in certain municipalities which have reached the ‘high’ and ‘very high’ risk categories. The former includes Cartagena, San Pedro del Pinatar, Cieza, Jumilla, Calasparra, Cehegín, Totana and Yecla, where the maximum capacity allowed at indoor venues like bars, restaurants, nightclubs and event venues for weddings and other celebrations has been reduced to 50%.
The latter, with cumulative incidence rates of over 300 infections per 100,000 people, includes the municipalities of Mazarrón, Torre Pacheco, Alhama de Murcia, Abarán and Fuente Álamo. In these places, the capacity has been reduced to just 30%, in what will surely be another blow for the Murcian hospitality sector, just when things were starting to turn around after the last wave of coronavirus. There are already question marks over whether Christmas meals and New Year’s parties will be able to go ahead as planned in Murcia. As a solution, representatives of nightlife, entertainment and leisure venues in Spain are demanding that the Covid certificate be made compulsory for entry into bars and clubs, though these are only needed in venues where capacity is at 100% in Murcia, with implementation of the certificate rules being patchy and piecemeal across each of the rest of Spain’s autonomous communities.
The Spanish tourism industry is already reporting increased cancellations of bookings from the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, although for now there haven’t been a significant slew of Germans or Brits cancelling their trips to Spain. While this latest wave of coronavirus will undoubtedly make things harder for many businesses and may even be the final nail in the coffin for a few who were just barely hanging on, the truth remains that public health must come first and it’s more important for us all to remain safe than to grow the economy. It benefits no one to be the richest country in the cemetery.
For the moment, the regional government of the Valencian Community has ruled out implementing new closures and curfews for businesses to try to stem the continued rise in Covid infections, which has also seen the number of patients in ICU soar by 93% since the beginning of November, but the Superior Court in Valencia has authorised the use of the Covid passport to access leisure and hospitality venues with more than 50 people.
And for at least 30 days from Friday December 3, the Covid certificate will also be required to visit hospitals and elderly residences, as well as to attend music festivals, events and celebrations with more than 500 attendees. The court ruled that “the implementation of the Covid passport throughout the Valencian Community is justified in view of the continued upward trend of the pandemic curve throughout the region, the foreseeable crowds in the run-up to Christmas and the appearance of new variants of the Sars-Cov-2.”
Coronavirus vaccines
The European Union has given the green light to vaccinating children as young as five, and places like Andalucía and the Valencian region have expressed a strong interest in vaccinating the youngest possible age group because they currently present one of the highest rates of incidence for coronavirus. However, confusion reigns in Spain as autonomous communities have no idea how many doses are set to arrive, or when, and who priority should be given to.
While many parents are understandably nervous about vaccinating their children with such a new and relatively untested vaccine, the decision may be taken out of their hands shortly as Brussels has actually called for a debate on whether Covid jabs should be made mandatory across Europe, in a move that is sure to divide those who cry civil liberty and personal freedom versus those who understand that the hard science of vaccination keeps us all safe. Even if it isn’t written into law, though, the imposition of the Covid certificate as a requirement to get into many establishments, use public transport and more make getting vaccinated as good as mandatory anyway, for those who actually want to go out, do stuff and have a social life, at least.
The vaccination campaign in Spain seems to have lost a bit of steam, with 89.4% of the target population double jabbed. Mobile walk-in vaccination points are popping up around the country to accommodate those who haven’t yet had any vaccinations, and there are scenes of queues around the block of people who figure that now, in the midst of the sixth wave, is as good a time as any to start getting jabbed. Well, better late than never.
At the same time, 65.8% of people over 70 have now received a booster dose, and over-60s are now getting their turn in many parts of the country. In Murcia, for example, anyone over the age of 60 can book their booster jab very easily either online on the Murciasalud website, on the SMS health service app, or by going into their local health centre in person.
How many corona cases are there?
In Murcia at the beginning of this week there were about 2,500 active cases and about 300 new infections recorded each day. Now that’s jumped up to almost 500 new cases a day and there are currently 3,239 people infected with coronavirus in the Region, 101 of them in the hospital.
The cumulative incidence rate in the Region of Murcia now stands at 270.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days, whereas at the end of last week it was 187.7. That’s almost 100 points, a 40% increase, in just one week! Some of the highest incidence rates in the Region can be found in Albudeite (800), Campos del Río (639.8), Torre Pacheco (617) and Cartagena (379.9).
In Spain as a whole at the beginning of the week, the 14-day cumulative incidence rate stood just below the 200 mark, but has now shot up this week, reaching 234 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This means that nationally, there are around 10,000 new cases each day or more. To date, only five cases of Omicron have been detected in Spain, but the government has indicated that any close contacts will have to quarantine for 10 days, whether they are vaccinated or not.
In the Valencia region, including Alicante, Monday’s health data revealed new infections had soared by 60% in a week with the Ministry of Health reporting a staggering 2,863 new cases just for that day – the highest since mid-August. The bleak data also saw the 14-day cumulative incidence rate surpass 220 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a far cry from the beginning of November when the Valencia region had a rate of 55 cases, and the summer months when the three provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón had one of the lowest incidence rates in Spain.
Instead, the Valencian region now has the highest number of Covid-infected healthcare workers in the country, with 350 infections detected amongst hospital and clinic staff in the last fortnight, 200 in just seven days. In light of the concerning situation, the College of Nurses of Valencia (CEOV) revealed it has “begged” the region’s Minister for Health, Ana Barceló, to “maximise” prevention measures against Covid infections in clinical settings, pointing out that the number of health workers who had tested positive for coronavirus had risen by more than 1,000 to an “exorbitant” 15,495.
The high Covid incidence even forced management at Marina Baixa Hospital to suspend non-urgent surgery “so as not to further saturate the critical care beds” in ICU. There are 12 beds in the intensive care unit, and 10 are currently occupied.
At the start of the week, the Covid situation in Andalucía had been looking as bad as it was everywhere else in the country, with the 14-day cumulative incidence rate just under 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the number of weekly deaths from coronavirus remaining steady.
In fact, hospital pressure actually decreased as more patients were released from hospital after having recovered than were admitted, but by Friday the number of daily cases had increased to around 1,200 and the incidence rate to 118. Mind you, this was still the second lowest in all of Spain.
We’re taking this health crisis seriously, and are of the opinion that the better informed everyone is about the latest of the fast-changing developments, the more protected we all are. That’s why we endeavour to bring you all the most up-to-date coronavirus news as it comes out, which you can always consult using the link above.
Murcia
At the beginning of the week, those in the south of the Region of Murcia were likely to have heard two rather loud bangs, which left many wondering what had happened. Although many locals in Cartagena, Lorca, Los Alcázares and even further north may have been alarmed by the sound, with some concerned members of the public even calling the emergency 112 number, there was a simple explanation; two military planes flying over the Mar Menor broke the sound barrier during a training exercise, causing an incredibly loud sonic boom.
Marihuana-related crimes have been a hot topic in Murcia this week, as police officers seized almost 5,000 kilos of hashish off Cartagena coast and arrested the two Bulgarian nationals who were aboard. The boat had previously been linked to drug trafficking back in 2020 and its owners had re-registered the vessel under a different name in an attempt to redirect the authorities.
In another anti-drug operation in the Region, police officers in Cieza arrested two members of a Japanese family who had been cultivating and selling marijuana on a large scale. The illicit farmers had 4,779 cannabis sativa plants in their possession.
In other crime news, the authorities have detained the man suspected of setting three fires at industrial sites in the municipality of Torre Pacheco at the beginning of November. The 50-year-old suspect had managed to evade detection for four weeks but this week he was finally arrested and it was revealed that he has a criminal record for arson dating back almost two decades.
As the Christmas season draws closer, more and more municipalities are turning on their Christmas lights, setting up festive markets and organising Christmassy activities including Cartagena, Águilas, San Pedro del Pinatar and Alhama de Murcia. However, the city of Murcia left many residents rather disappointed this week, as the city council announced that they would not be installing the giant Christmas tree in the Plaza Circular, citing the increasing Covid cases as one of their reasons. This decision incited protests amongst business owners in the city over the cancellation of the emblematic tree and the delays in turning on the Christmas lights. Not all the Christmas spirit has been lost though, as the Murcia council also revealed their plans to place 700 smaller Christmas trees in some of the municipality’s local businesses.
For those who enjoy spending the festive season taking part in fun activities with family and friends, two ice-skating rinks are set to be installed in the municipality of Murcia, one on Avenida de la Libertad and another in La Finca, along with a third ice rink in Cartagena’s port. There is also an almost endless list of carolling sessions, festive concerts and Christmas markets in most municipalities in the Region.
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Spain
Not all airlines are getting the same good press as easyJet, as a recent survey found that Ireland’s Ryanair and Spain’s Vueling made the top ten list of the worst companies in the world to fly with. The research looked at baggage rules, food, comfort and the number of customer complaints, among other things, and the popular airlines bottomed out in the vast majority of categories.
The good folks at the DGT are at it again this week and have helpfully reminded drivers of yet another fine they could face on Spanish roads: 80 euros for wearing bulky winter clothes. Yes, you read that right. The traffic authorities have warned that padding up like the Michelin man or wearing oversized boots – really, any clothing that impairs the driver’s ability to move freely and safely in the vehicle – could be picked up on by officers and be classed as an infraction.
Assuming motorists can actually hit the pedal, the DGT has come up with a clever scheme to catch drivers who slam on the breaks when they spot a speed camera, only to accelerate again once past it. On certain stretches of road, the authorities will now install not one, but two cameras, so that rule breakers will be spotted if they speed up over the limit after passing a checkpoint.
It’s not been a particularly good few days for wildlife here in Spain either, as residents of Galicia were astonished when hundreds of dead and dying starlings rained from the sky on top of passing pedestrians and cars. Incredibly, no accidents resulted but the street was littered with more than 200 birds, who appear to have dropped mid-flight in the mysterious event.
Parrots are having a hard time of it too, and in Madrid locals and activists are up in arms as the regional government has invested 2.9 million euros in culling the feathered beauties. Some 13,000 birds were killed with compressed air rifles in one day alone, but the authorities have argued against sentimentality. The parrots might look pretty, but they do actually carry any number of unpleasant diseases and, being an invasive species, cause untold damage to the native flora and fauna.
It wouldn’t be a week in Spain without commenting on the extortionate price of electricity, and in recent days this country (along with Portugal) won the dubious title of having the highest energy prices in all of Europe. Despite this, the government continues to claim that customers will pay the same amount this year as they did in 2018, something which consumer groups claim is impossible. It all comes down to semantics really, as the government’s assertion is correct if you only count the “average citizen”, when in reality, leccy bills are at least 9% dearer than they were three years ago.
While consumers are undoubtedly paying more for energy, fuel and countless household items, retirees in Spain can expect a bit more cash in their pockets in the new year, as pension payments are expected to increase by 2.5% in line with inflation, which means that the average pensioner will receive around 26 euros more per month.
Workers are also reaping the rewards, as data released by the Ministry of Labour this week shows that unemployment in Spain last month experienced the biggest November drop in history. Most significantly, there are now 63,360 fewer people out of work than in February 2020, right before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Alicante
On a festive note, Christmas has arrived in all its colour and splendour with Alicante boasting a world record following the unveiling of its gigantic nativity scene, the biggest in the world at a whopping 18-metres. The nativity, called ‘Sagrada Familia’, features in the Guinness Book of World Records and will be on display on Alicante promenade until midnight on January 6, following the Three Kings Holiday.
Alicante City Council also revealed its fun-packed bumper programme of festive events, activities, carol singing, markets, nativity scenes and more, offering something for everyone. One of the highlights is the return of the Three Kings parade to the city streets on January 5, a tradition which was also cancelled last year due to Covid.
Orihuela launched its Christmas calendar of events with the much-anticipated return of the Carrera del Pavo y Papa Noel de Molins (Molins Turkey and Father Christmas Race) for adults and children, following its cancellation last year due to the pandemic.
With Christmas just around the corner, those long, hot summer evenings feel a lifetime away, and it’s been a blustery week across the region, conditions which look likely to continue into next week. For most of the week, the region has been on yellow alert for winds and coastal phenomena, with gusts of up to 100km/h recorded in La Pobla de Benifassà.
The winds replaced the humid conditions and heavy rain of recent weeks, which have left residents living on urbanisations close to Torrevieja lagoon reeling amid a fourth plague of mosquitos this year. The local council has been receiving complaints about the pesky mozzies since the end of March, but despite an extensive spraying campaign, residents claim the area around the salt water lakes remain overrun with moquitos, affecting their day-to-day life.
A campaign of a different kind has been launched in Alicante following the shooting of a cyclist who was injured after being hit with dozens of pellets by a hunter who mistook him for a rabbit. The injured cyclist was riding through Mount Orgegia forest when he was shot, prompting calls to ban hunting in the natural park by Alicante’s Compromís political party. Several neighbourhood organisations complained to the council about hunting activity in the area earlier in the year, warning “it seriously endangers people of all ages who frequent the mountain for hiking, cycling, horse riding and other outdoor activities”. Well, if a cyclist getting shot is what it takes for a hunting ban to finally be put on the table, then we’ll just chalk him up as a martyr to the cause.
In other news, a man riding a moped died after colliding with a vehicle in Torreveija’s Avenida Desiderio Rodríguez, the scene of a double fatality in August in which an elderly couple were hit by a speeding van driver at a pedestrian crossing.
Meanwhile, on a bit of a cheerier note, hotel occupancy in Benidorm is expected to reach up to 95% this weekend, despite a surge in Covid cases, with the region’s hotel employers’ association claiming “some establishments could be filled to capacity”.
And it appears it’s not just tourists who are flocking to the Costa Blanca, either. A recent real estate report shows that Alicante province is once again the preferred destination amongst foreign buyers purchasing a second home in Spain.
Andalucía
The Costa del Sol is no stranger to forest fires, having been the site of one of the fiercest wildfires of the year in the Sierra Bermeja in Málaga province last summer, and there was sadly another blaze in the area late last week, albeit smaller. The fire, which broke out on Sunday, was centred on the natural area of the Maro-Cerro Gordo on the outskirts of the traditional tourist town of Nerja, right by the sea.
While it’s not unheard of to have wildfires as late in the year in November, they are not normally as large or as dangerous as those that can take place in the dry, tinderbox summer. The forest fire was brought under control in just under 24 hours and was extinguished by Monday morning, but not before it caused the N-340 road to be closed around kilometre 297 for a few hours.
At the same time, other municipalities along the Costa del Sol were feeling the tremors from an earthquake coming from Benalmádena. Registering 4.1 on the Richter scale, the quake had its epicentre in the Málaga town but was also felt in Fuengirola, Estepona and Torremolinos, though thankfully it didn’t cause any serious damage.
If it had, though, Andalusian property owners would now be able to rebuild more easily thanks to overhauled property planning laws. The new rules approved by the Junta de Andalucía last week remove the buildable land classification (‘suelo urbanizable’) and replace it with new categories for urban and rustic land, removing restrictions for homeowners and allowing them to build new properties in the countryside and, controversially, even on protected land.
The new rules have been welcomed by homeowners’ associations as “long overdue”, though it will be up to local town halls to enforce the changes to the law, something they are as yet reluctant to do. Could it be for the good of protected land in the countryside to avoid delicate areas being trampled by bulldozers? Could it be that elected public bodies are actually taking an interest in the environment for the environment’s sake? One can only hope…
Earthquakes aside, Torremolinos also made headlines this week as it unveils new digitised tourist boards in several different languages to try to improve the tourist experience of visitors to the town. The interactive screens, which have been strategically placed around town, provide tourist information about what to see in Torremolinos in English, French and German (as well as Spanish, of course). Not only that, but their tourist website now also has virtual tours and audio guides with sign language for deaf people. Looks like Torremolinos is gunning to be the place to visit for everyone in 2022!
Unless you’re trying to get out of Málaga, that is! It’s emerged that one fella who tried it last week was arrested at Málaga airport for using a fake ID and possibly even a fake PCR test result to fly to Ireland. It hasn’t been revealed what the man was trying to achieve by travelling with forged documents or why, but an extra plane ticket to Romania and his real ID were found after police searched his suitcase.
From unauthorised emigration to illicit importation, police in Algeciras in Cádiz province have recovered eleven classic cars that were stolen from Paris, France. It’s believed that the collectors’ vehicles were to be transported via the Spanish ports of Tarifa or Algeciras to Morocco, where they would be sent on new fake documentation to wealthy African clients. Trafficking classic cars to Africa is not an uncommon practice around Europe, but in this case five perpetrators were arrested and the vehicles returned to their rightful owners.
You may have missed…
Temperatures are forecast to drop even further all across Spain from next week.
The Guardia Civil stopped a Polish man who was driving a high-end luxury car at a staggering 194 km/h along the RM-19 highway between San Javier and Murcia, a stretch of road that has a maximum speed limit of 100 kilometres.
The regulations will increase the number of penalty points for many infractions.
A photovoltaic plant in Totana has become a refuge for dozens of bird species, many of which are endangered.
The shop, dubbed the ‘Primark of Holland’, is the second in the Region of Murcia.
And that’s all for now. Remember that shops may be shut early next week because Monday December 6 and Wednesday December 8 are both public holidays (if you’re interested in finding out why, we’ve got a little history here).
Enjoy your bank holiday weekend, folks, and we’ll see you next Saturday!
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