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The Consell rejects the Government's decision to leave Alicante and Elche out of the pass to Phase 1 of the de-escalation of confinement due to the coronavirus

The departments of Alcoy, Dénia, Marina Baixa, Elda, Orihuela and Torrevieja can advance in the de-escalation - Ana Barceló: «We don't share it. We met the criteria required by the Ministry »

Pere Rostoll Pino Alberola J. Mule 09.05.2020 | 01:20

The Consell rejects the Government's decision to leave Alicante and Elche out of the pass to Phase 1 of the de-escalation of confinement due to the coronavirus
The Consell rejects the Government's decision to leave Alicante and Elche out of the pass to Phase 1 of the de-escalation of confinement due to the coronavirus

A blow to the claims of the Valencian Community to pass on Monday to Phase 1 of the de-escalation. The Ministry of Health has left a good part of the Valencian territory out, including the three capitals: Alicante, Castellón and València.

The big cities are the ones that have suffered the most punishment and in the province of Alicante only six health departments will be able to advance in the de-escalation: Alcoy, Dénia, Marina Baixa, Elda, Orihuela and Torrevieja. Elche and its region are therefore also excluded to pass the phase, despite the good epidemiological data recorded by its two health departments. Along with the city of Alicante, all municipalities in the region of l´Alacantí are also excluded from the de-escalation.

The Ministry of Health will have to wait until next week to see if the Ministry of Health finally allows progress in de-escalation.



The decision announced late yesterday afternoon has fallen like a jug of cold water and has caused outrage in the Generalitat Valenciana. Through a well-known social network, the President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig , expressed his disagreement. «We do not share the decision. We have justified with technical criteria the conditions so that the entire Valencian Community had to go to Phase 1 to protect Valencian society. We ask that our plan be studied again to review the decision as soon as possible, ”he said in a tweet late at night.

The Ministry of Health also made its disagreement evident through a statement sent at night. "We do not share it because we have fulfilled all the criteria and demands that the ministry itself had asked of us." Barceló assures that the proposal they submitted on Wednesday was rated "with a grade" by the ministry itself. «We were transferred with honors because we met all the criteria that had been requested: the number of acute beds, the number of critical beds, the capacity for response and follow-up in Primary Care, the capacity of laboratories to carry out the PCR tests ... ». Barceló also regrets that other communities have passed the sieve with worse indicators than the Valencian and gives as an example the index of cases accumulated in the last 14 days. «This index says that the Community is among the six best, with a lower incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. We have 13.59 per 100,000, while others that have passed in their entirety have an incidence of between 46 and 63 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Alicante Mayor Luis Barcala, has agreed to immediately stop those measures that had been adopted in anticipation of entry next Monday in Phase 1 of the de-escalation, such as the reinstatement of the ORA, and has advanced that it will request the Ministry of Health «the Timely explanations that make us understand why we have not passed to Phase 1. That means having the exact information on the levels of contagion and risk, knowing where we are and why this decision has been made. Also by comparison how others are and why some have passed, and others we have not passed ». The mayor also wants to know the measures that are going to be adopted "so that we can balance ourselves and be in a position to move to Phase 1 as soon as possible.

From Elche, Mayor Carlos González preferred to be cautious before evaluating in depth the fact that this area will not change phase on Monday. "This is a process in which you have to be up to what is proposed by the health authority and you have to know the reason why, from there, go forward," said the first mayor of El Salvador yesterday. González also underlined the fact that precisely the territory of El Salvador has practically the best records in the entire Community with respect to Covid-19 .


The Community may change the departure time of children

The autonomous communities may modify the time allowed for the walk of children up to 14 years old so that it does not coincide with the hottest strips, given the high temperatures that are being registered in some areas of Spain. Currently, they are allowed to leave from 12:00 to 19:00. The Valencian Community is one of the autonomies that had requested that this schedule be modified, given the heat that is already being registered.

The director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, said yesterday that "a proposal will be made to the communities that will give them sufficient margin to adapt (the schedules) to their current meteorological situation." The Government of the Generalitat had also asked to open the bathing beaches since next Monday. The Valencian Government suggests that the climatic conditions of the Valencian Community should be taken into account in this de-escalation process.