Government makes Tenerife and Gran Canaria wait 48 hours

The Governing Council confirmed what we already expected yesterday afternoon, by increasing the restrictions in Lanzarote to Level 3 due to the fact that it is the island with the highest cumulative incidence rate with 279.73 over 7 days according to the latest report published by the Ministry of Health, then threw a ‘curve ball’ regarding Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

It was no surprise that La Palma and El Hierro continue at Level 1, nor did that La Gomera join them in the "minimal risk" category due to its good figures. All three of these islands have had small spikes in daily infections recently, but the data recovers very quickly due to the size of their population.

Fuerteventura is confirmed at Level 2, an increase that was expected due to their epidemiological data, and the fact that the islands Cabildo have requested stricter regulations, especially in La Oliva.

So why have the Government delayed their final decision about Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and bought 48 hours before implementing proposed changes? Well, as explained by the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo in the press conference after the meeting, they want to watch the data for the two islands over the next two days to see what trend they are following, especially taking into account that Tenerife had 93 new cases yesterday.

When yesterday’s data was released by the Ministry of Health, it was immediately obvious that 93 new cases could throw a spanner in the works for Tenerife. It is also a stark reminder that if restrictions are reduced, we cannot relax or ignore guidelines. Just because it permits the opening of interior spaces of bars and restaurants, relaxes the curfew, or lets us go to the gym...we are still in a pandemic.

There is another Governing Council meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon (Saturday), and as long as Tenerife’s data continues on its downward trend, then the move to reduce restrictions to Level 2 will be confirmed, and the opposite for Gran Canaria whose data is on the up as are proposed restrictions to Level 3.

THE VACCINE, THE ONLY SALVATION OF SOCIETY AND THE ECONOMY:
The Canary Islands has accelerated the vaccination campaign this last week, aware that it is the only way to neutralize the pandemic and lift the restrictions that are doing so much damage to the productive fabric of the Islands.

Specifically, of the 44,040 doses received, Canarian health workers have inoculated 27,637, that is, 62.75% of them. However, the goal is to apply the antidote to 70% of the population, in order to achieve the so-called herd immunity, which would allow a scenario more similar to normality before the pandemic.