The Madrid regional government has announced new restrictions aimed at curbing the rising number of coronavirus cases in the region. The order came into effect yesterday, Monday 21st September, and will last for at least 14 days.
The restrictions on mobility affect people living within 37 health areas, of which 26 are located in six districts of the city of Madrid, and the rest in other municipalities in the Madrid region. People will be allowed in and out for essential activities such as going to school or work, or to care for dependents. Social gatherings are reduced to six people and public parks will remain closed. Capacity at stores and other commercial establishments is set at 50 percent and closing time is 10pm with the exception of pharmacies and gas stations.
The affected areas are home to around 855,193 people or 17 percent of the population of the Madrid region, although they account for 25 percent of detected coronavirus cases. “We are aware that if don’t take these measures, the situation will be worse in a few days,” said the deputy premier of the Madrid region, Ignacio Aguado.
According to Madrid premier Díaz Ayuso, both the central and regional governments are going to work together to contain transmission in the region. “We have to avoid a state of alarm at all costs. And above all we need to avoid a confinement, an economic disaster,” said the regional premier. “The head of Spain’s government is not coming here as a guardian of the Madrid region, but to cooperate with it.”
On Thursday, Madrid regional officials had asked the central government to get “actively involved” in containing the spread of Covid-19. Shortly after this public appeal for help, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered to hold a face-to-face meeting with Díaz Ayuso, who accepted the invitation. Under Spain’s system of devolved powers, regional governments are in charge of healthcare policy. Throughout the duration of the 99-day state of alarm declared by Sánchez in mid-March, Madrid officials had complained that the temporary centralisation of powers was depriving them of the possibility of effectively handling the crisis. The centre-right Madrid government accused the central executive, led by a leftist coalition of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos, of mishandling the Covid-19 crisis. But ever since the emergency state was lifted in June, Madrid has been recording increasingly worrisome coronavirus infection, death and hospitalisation figures, evidencing that the regional government is struggling to deal with the situation.
In a bid to curb contagion, the Madrid regional government introduced a raft of new restrictions in September, including limiting social meetings to 10 people, and reducing the capacity at funeral homes and religious ceremonies, such as weddings, baptisms and communions. But with cases continuing to rise, Madrid’s deputy health chief, Antonio Zapatero, warned last Thursday that “more drastic” measures were needed.
Heart of the crisis
After it was badly hit during the first wave, Madrid has once again become the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Spain. According to the latest epidemiological monitoring report published on Thursday by the Spanish Health Ministry, the average incidence of the coronavirus in the last 14 days in the Madrid region came in at 659 cases per 100,000 people. This is more than double the national average of 260 cases.
According to the latest figures available before going to print, Madrid reported 1,301 new coronavirus cases, and added 4,902 to the historical season. Hospitals in the region have come under increased pressure due to the spike in cases, with 21 percent of hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients, compared to the national average of 8.6 percent.
Unions have also complained that Madrid’s primary healthcare system has been stretched to the limit, with doctors seeing more than 80 patients in a single shift.
The Spanish capital is at the heart of the country’s railway and road networks, besides being home to its biggest international airport. Hundreds of thousands of trips are made each day by residents of nearby regions (Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León) who commute to Madrid for work. As a result, the evolution of the disease in Madrid is a national issue. A rise in cases in the region has a ripple effect on the rest of the country.
Mounting tensions
As tensions mount, there are growing calls for a no-confidence vote against Díaz Ayuso. The Madrid region entered the new normality when the state of alarm ended on 21st June, without having passed through Phase 3 of the national de=escalation plan. In order to move to this final stage, regional authorities needed to show that they had strengthened the primary healthcare sector and public health – which they failed to do.
Now, three months after the end of the state of alarm, the Madrid government still has not met these basic requirements. In May, it promised to hire 400 contact tracers, but in July, it only had 142. Only this month has the government begun to hire more contact tracing staff.