Spain has been engaged for a few days in the “desescalada”, the deconfinement plan which will be divided into 4 phases. Each will include specific rules and prohibitions depending on the sector and activity, and each region will be assessed individually. As of Monday, May 11th, certain regions will go into phase 1 of the deconfinement plan, authorizing certain activities and businesses to resume. The others remain in phase 0 and will have to wait 2 weeks. Lisbob, the expatriate assistant, tells you everything that is changing this Monday, May 11th in Spain.
Check out the zones that pass into phase 1 in Spain this Monday ©EL PAIS
The Spanish Minister of Health Salvador Illa announced this Friday which territories will go to phase 1 of the “desescalada” and which ones will remain in phase 0 from Monday, May 11th. Although they asked to move to the next phase, the executive rejected the request from the Community of Madrid, the provinces of Castilla la Mancha, Albacete, Ciudad Real and Tolèdo, as well as the Andalusian provinces of Malaga and Granada and various health zones from the three provinces of Community of Valencia.
Also in phase 0 continues most of the territory of Castilla y León and Catalonia, whose autonomous governments have chosen to continue in the initial phase of de-escalation. Illa has repeatedly said that "social discipline" is essential in this new phase of deconfinement. "It is important to consolidate what we have accomplished in this first step in order to control the pandemic." As the Minister of Health has pointed out, around half of the Spanish population, 51%, will be able to move on to phase 1 from next week.
In the provinces which pass to phase 1 it will be possible to buy without appointment, to go on the terraces of bars and restaurants (with a capacity reduced to 50%) and to meet in groups of 10 people maximum, always respecting the physical distance from safety. The regions which will go into phase 1 will be for 14 days. It is the time necessary to know whether the relaxation of the measures has caused an increase in cases or outbreaks. "If things progressed positively, those who remain in the 0 will be able to request it again as soon as they meet the conditions.
The ministerial decree sets a deadline of one week to respond to these requests. In the new phase, timetables for physical activity will continue to apply, although communities can adapt them to their characteristics. Some have asked for changes so that children do not have to go out during the hottest parts of the day. But citizens can meet at any time to go to friends or family, or to meet on the terrace or outside.
The possibility of control is now practically impossible, as Illa recognized: “You have to appeal to individual responsibility. All caution is required in complex and unprecedented decisions that require social discipline more than ever. "
