Government analyzes which restrictions will apply when State of Alarm finishes
The Governing Council of the Canary Islands has been analyzing what restrictions it would apply if the State of Alarm finished now, taking into account this becomes a reality on May 9th, and from May 10th the responsibility is handed back to the regions themselves to impose restrictions for their area, as announced this week by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez.
The Canarian Executive spokesman, Julio Pérez, explained at a press conference in Santa Cruz that the possible scenario of the end of the State of Alarm has been addressed and has indicated that "probably some of the current restrictions will apply.”
He recalled that between June and October of last year this situation already occurred with the regions taking control, but the second wave of the virus led to a big rise in cases and the incidence of Covid-19 in the Canary Islands, especially in Gran Canaria, so "restrictive measures" continued to be applied until the central Government reactivated the state of alarm.
Many people that don’t understand the situation get worried that the phrase ‘state of alarm’ means lockdown, but it doesn’t. The State of Alarm is the mechanism that that enables the central Government to enable restrictions for varying reasons, in this case, because of a health pandemic, without having to go to a vote from the Council of Ministers.
The fact that the State of Alarm is being lifted does not mean that on May 10th restrictions are finished and normality is restored, it means that the level of restrictions are decided locally as opposed to nationally.
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Pérez said that at this stage nothing has been decided, but that there was an "exchange of opinions on possible actions in both health and economic situations.” But he did add that "we will have to be careful not to lose the economic and social shields associated with the state of alarm, such as ERTE due to force majeure, and evictions.”
Earlier in the week the president of the Canary Islands Government, Angel Victor Torres, said that he supports the continuation of some sort of night-time curfew, as it is proven to work to restrict movements, and hence the spread of the virus.