Ibiza Covid Update – Thu 26 March

· The Spanish State of Alarm has now been officially extended until 11 April 2020

· At present the Covid19 figures for Ibiza are as follows

46 confirmed cases in total
17 in hospital being monitored
8 in hospital in intensive care
20 under surveillance at home
1 death ( an 85 year old man with underlying health issues)

In addition to these 45 ‘active cases’ there are also 8 health workers at home in self-isolation and controlled by UVAC plus another 14 under ‘active surveillance’.

*An update of these figures is given daily at around 1pm by the Balearic Health Ministry and will be posted on relevant Facebook pages

· Balearic Health Minister Fransesc Albertí announced that a shipment from the Ministry of Health was due to arrive in Mallorca on Wednesday with supplies including 1200 gowns and 135,000 masks – 9,000 for special protection, 3,200 for maximum protection and 122,800 surgical. This material “will be distributed proportionally among the islands,”said Alberti

· The restriction of only 1 person per vehicle has been amended to 1 person per row of seats but maintaining the maximum possible distance. This applies to all vehicles up to 9 seats but you still must have a JUSTIFIED reason for being in the vehicle and will be OPEN TO INTERPRETATION by the authorities so PROCEED WITH CAUTION – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED SO DON’T TAKE ANY CHANCES UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

The exact wording of the original law said the following. “During the validity of the state of alarm, people may only circulate along the public roads or spaces to carry out the following activities”

a) Acquisition of food, pharmaceuticals and basic necessities.
b) Assistance to health centres, services and establishments.
c) Travel to the workplace to carry out their work, professional or business provision.
d) Return to the place of habitual residence.
e) Assistance and care for the elderly, minors, dependents, people with disabilities or especially vulnerable people.
f) Displacement to financial and insurance entities.
g) Due to force majeure or need.
h) Any other activity of a similar nature.

· The provisional homeless shelter installed by the Island Council at the Blancadona Sports Complex and managed br the Red Cross is already close to it’s limit as it now has 38 occupants (35 male/3 female) according to Santi Mari, Director of Social Services. There are only 5 free beds so “other alternatives will have to be found if required” said Marí.

· 4 hotels in Ibiza and 1 in Formentera will be at the disposal of the authorities to carry out supply and healthcare work in the face of the continuing health crisis. The Ibiza complexes are Duquesa Playa Apartments, Bonsol Apartments, San Francisco Apartments and Venus Apartments. While in Formentera it is the Hotel Illes Pitiüses

· ‘El Pais’ newspaper in Madrid is reporting that the new rapid tests for Covid19 which the Spanish Government wanted to roll out to start testing the broader layers of the population to find out the real size of the infection do not work as well as expected. This has been confirmed by several microbiology laboratories in large hospitals where an anonymous source said: “They do not detect the positive cases as expected”. The rapid tests, manufactured by the Chinese company Bioeasy, are reported to have a sensitivity of 30%, when it should be higher than 80%.

· Roadblocks and controls are continuing on the White Isle and San Antonio and Santa Eulalia police have incorporated the use of drones to broaden controls. At street level, municipal agents, the Guardia Civil and the National Police continue to deploy dozens of controls to verify that the movements of citizens around the island are motivated and perfectly justified.

· On Tuesday a total of 75 complaints were filed in Ibiza Town. National Police denounced 43 citizens with 8 deployed controls, while the Local Police denounced a further 32 people.

· The authorities have specifically warned about fake news so local government websites and credible press/social media pages are the best places to gather important information, please pass on wherever possible.

· The situation is evolving every day however the message is very clear – please stay at home wherever possible and keep a cool and calm head. By following these guidelines, together, we will beat this disease and get on with the rest of
our lives.

Best Regards – Stay Safe and Stay Home

With special thanks to Lesley Donald, Tricia Templeton and Julian Cobby

VERY IMPORTANT: INFORMATION TAKEN FROM CREDIBLE PRESS AND GOVERNMENT SOURCES HOWEVER THE SITUATION IS CHANGING VERY QUICKLY. THIS BLOG IS WRITTEN FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ERRORS GIVEN IN GOOD FAITH