Ibiza Covid19 Update 15 May

Covid19 figures for Ibiza & Formentera on 14/05/20 were as follows (via local press)

· 165 cases in total
· 24 Active Cases

· 16 in hospitals being monitored
· 4 in hospitals in intensive care
· 4 under surveillance at home
· 129 Discharged from hospital
· 12 fatalities
· 3 health workers under ‘active surveillance’

These figures are updated daily at 1pm by Balearic Health Office

Formentera, which hopes to go to phase 2 on Monday 18 May, has completed a whole month with any new cases of Covid19 with the last one reported on 14 April.

Phase 2 will see bars and restaurants able to open up their interior for up 50% of tables inside the premises, without using the bar, as long as the safety distance of 2 metres between tables is respected.

Spain’s regional education chiefs have rejected Pedro Sanchez’ proposal to reopen classrooms for children up to 6 years of age before the end of the school year. It was suggested that this might happen when regions of Spain move into phase 2 but has been described as unworkable and not worth the risk. Final year students of secondary and post-secondary education will be allowed to go to school on a voluntary basis in maximum groups of 15. Most of the regions are in favour of organising activities for these students, especially those preparing for their university entrance examinations.

In an emergency meeting yesterday the 5 Mayors of Ibiza agreed to unify the closing hours of bar and restaurant terraces. They must close by 12am midnight from Monday to Thursday and Sundays and 1am on Friday and Saturday.

Balearic Government President Francina Armengol has been talking up summer tourism for 2020 in a series of tweets yesterday saying that the Balearics is a safe destination and that tourists will have guarantees of safety. She went on to say that she was looking at ways to make the Balearics more affordable to national tourists if the main UK and German markets continue to have problems with travel.

Meanwhile in line with other international carriers the Lufthansa Group announced that they will fly again in early June from Ibiza, Mallorca and Valencia to Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Cologne and Zurich and hope to cover 150 destinations by the end of June.

The Ibiza Island Council will allocate 1.3 million euros to help the self-employed and small businesses who are struggling during the Covid19 crisis. Ibiza Town will receive 400,000 euros, Santa Eulalia 300,000 euros, San Antonio and Sant Josep will receive 250,000 euros each and 120,000 will go to Sant Joan.

The Balearic Government has presented an economic stimulus package that hopes to streamline administration in certain sectors. The new measures will be written into law and hope to be worth 3500 million euros over the next 2 years affecting 31000 jobs. The sectors involved are mainly tourism and construction plus a focus on single use plastics. However Ibiza Island President Vicent Mari was unimpressed saying that he was given the details only half an hour before the press conference saying “an outline has been explained and that’s fine, it’s a step, but it gives me the impression that we have to read the law when it is published and that it has come up short and Ibiza’s demands have not been taken into account. There is no point in presenting a good philosophy if it is not later translated into facts”.

Meanwhile Mari has also indicated in a TV interview that he is in favour of extending the state of alarm while “there is a need to safeguard health to the maximum” distancing himself from his own PP political party at national level who have already announced that it will vote against an extension in congress.

Santa Eulalia Town Hall has announced that it will ty and help the most vulnerable unable to pay their rent due to the ongoing crisis. The package has a total value of 250,000 euros with a maximum grant of 1400 euros per person – more info here

The number of families who have applied to the Ibiza Red Cross for food aid during the crisis has increased fivefold while a total of 48 people continue to spend the night in the provisional homeless shelter at the Blanca Dona sports centre which has a maximum capacity of 54.

The Island Council has said that drivers who have an expired ITV and were unable to renew due to the closure of the testing station will not be fined during the sate of alarm. The ITV station is now open again.

The ‘Eivissa Oberta’ initiative launched by Ibiza Town Council will open this weekend with 7 new streets exclusively for pedestrians and bicycles. There will be 25 routes open every Saturday and Sunday during the State of Alarm.

Fake news stories are still appearing especially over the new phases of de-escalation but local government websites and credible press/social media pages are the best places to gather important information.

The situation is constantly evolving however please follow the guidelines.

Best Regards

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 FLUID. THIS UPDATE IS WRITTEN FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ERRORS GIVEN IN GOOD FAITH