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Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Dec 11
FEATURE ARTICLES "Christmas strike at Corvera airport: December 23 and 26 and Fifty fines for non-compliance hours after Covid passport is introduced in Valencia region"
Have you got your Covid pass yet? They’re being requested in more and more places and, although the EU underlined this week that vaccination will absolutely not be mandatory, when you need to show proof of being vaccinated, having recently had Covid and recovered, or a negative test just to get into a restaurant, hotel or use public transport, it’s as good as obligatory anyway.
They’re easy enough to get. They’re available on the app or website of the state health authority in each region, be it the SMS in Murcia, the GVA in the Valencian Community or any other health provider. Even so, within just hours of the Covid passport being introduced in the Valencia region, police were forced to give out nearly 50 fines to people who didn’t have them when they should.
As of last weekend and for the rest of this month, the Covid certificate is needed to get into entertainment venues with a maximum capacity of more than 50 people. To make sure these new rules were being complied with, police carried out random inspections of nightclubs and in one night issued 49 fines to those who failed to produce a Covid certificate on request.
During a sweep of 18 establishments hours after the measure was introduced to stem soaring coronavirus cases, teams made up of officers from the National and Local Police, together with the security unit attached to the regional government, issued a total of 453 sanctions, 49 for failing to provide a Covid certificate.But the police have since come under fire from the Federation of Leisure, Tourism, Gaming, Recreational Activities and Related Industries of the Valencia Community (FOTUR) which has criticised their “disproportionate” actions which they claim in some cases even “paralysed activity completely”.
Whether you’re out clubbing this weekend or not, be sure you know when and where the Covid pass may be requested of you, and that you have one at the ready, either on your phone or printed on a piece of paper!
Coronavirus
According to Spain’s revamped traffic light system, the country enters the ‘high risk’ category when there are between 300 and 500 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 inhabitants. At the latest count (after the delay in releasing the latest Covid figures because everyone was off on a long weekend) the 14-day cumulative incidence rate stands at 305.57 and counting.
As the country enters the high risk category, then, more and more autonomous communities are implementing rules to request Covid certificates to gain entry to bars, discos and other venues.
To combat the rising cases, the regional government in Murcia announced their plan to implement Covid passports at leisure and hospitality venues, but they later rectified this and confirmed that the certificates would only be mandatory for nightlife venues such as nightclubs. It’s worth noting, however, that establishments like restaurants and hotels are allowed to deny entry to anyone not presenting a Covid pass if they so wish. And there’s good reason to think they will wish, since they can benefit from having a larger maximum capacity if they demand the Covid pass to get in.
Indicators are on the rise in the Region of Murcia, with a 42% rise in new daily cases reported on Monday. By the end of the week, the 14-day cumulative incidence rate had risen to 377.1 cases per 100,000 residents, above the national average of 305.57.
The managing director of the Murcian Health Service took efforts to reduce the Covid figures one step further and requested that regional healthcare staff set an example for the public and refrain from attending Christmas parties over the holidays, unlike some UK politicians.
Worse still, the vaccination campaign appears to have lost considerable speed at the national level. While continuing, the numbers seem virtually stuck with 89.5% of the target population now double jabbed, but the percentage points stubbornly refusing to reach 90%. The country’s health authorities, meanwhile, are remaining frustratingly tight lipped on whether they will impose additional travel restrictions on European travellers in the run up to Christmas.
The incidence rate among younger children in Spain has worryingly doubled in the last week alone, and now stands at 533 cases; this is soon about to change, however, as the Public Health Commission has approved the vaccination of youngsters and autonomous communities should begin receiving their first doses of the child vaccine early next week.
Meanwhile, a study released by Pfizer this week has confirmed that two doses of their vaccine does not appear to be enough to fight off the Omicron variant sufficiently. While the pharma giant has insisted that a booster dose would offer considerably more protection, it has conceded that the best way forward is to develop a dedicated vaccine for this coronavirus strain, and Pfizer reckons this could be ready by as early as March next year.
In the Valencia region, including Alicante province, the 14-day cumulative incidence has now soared to 332.77, up 66.77 points since Friday December 3. This is in stark contrast to the halcyon days of early November, when it stood at just 55 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. And the pressure is being felt in hospitals with 623 Covid patients admitted (as of Friday December 10), up 141 in a week, with 108 in people in ICU, an additional 22 critically ill patients.
In fact, on Tuesday December 7, daily Covid cases reached a new peak with the Ministry of Health reporting 3,444 cases in three days. For much of this week, the Regional Ministry of Health has again been urging the unvaccinated to get immunised, with mobile vaccination points dotted around the province offering jabs without appointments.
Unsurprisingly, there’s been a notable surge in vaccinations since the introduction of the mandatory Covid passport, with around 5,000 jabs administered at two mobile vaccination points in Valencia and Orihuela Costa in just six days.
During the first three weeks of November, static and mobile points administered around 4,600 first doses per week, but following the announcement that the regional government planned to implement the Covid certificate, this figure shot up to 7,524 vaccinations in the last week of the month.
In Andalucía, the Covid pass is now required to access hospitals (if you’re visiting someone, not if you’re a patient) and care homes for the elderly. Even so, it may still be possible to catch Covid while you’re at the hospital, at least in Málaga hospital where more than 60 staff members came down with the virus in an outbreak caused by a get-together at a Christmas gathering.
They’re not alone. The Andalusian region is now getting over 2,000 new infections every day, the highest figures since August. Even so, 92% of the regional population is vaccinated, only three cases of Omicron have been confirmed in the whole of Andalucía and hospital pressure is still firmly on the manageable side, with the bed occupancy rate at 2.33% on the ward and 4.97% in the ICU for Covid patients, which is less than half the national average.
We’re taking this health crisis seriously, and are of the opinion that the better informed everyone is about the latest of the fast-changing developments, the more protected we all are. That’s why we endeavour to bring you all the most up-to-date coronavirus news as it comes out, which you can always consult using the link above.
Travel news
A new bus system was put in place in the Region of Murcia last Friday, with new routes in the Cartagena and Mar Menor that will run all year round. The new routes aim to connect up Cartagena with other towns in the Mar Menor like Los Alcázares, Fuente Álamo and San Pedro del Pinatar, as well as making new transport links between Murcia city and some of the surrounding areas, including Alcantarilla, Beniel, Santomera and Molina de Segura.
Cartagena council actually planned to remove the existing bus number 20 to La Manga del Mar Menor, though, until local residents put up a fight to keep the bus alive. Eventually, the council caved to public pressure and agreed to maintain bus 20, meaning El Algar, La Unión, Cabo de Palos, Pedruchillo and others will all still be connected to Cartagena by bus, proof that the little people do have power to influence public policy above and beyond just casting a ballot every four or five years.
There are also talks of putting in a bus service to connect Cabo de Palos with the city of Murcia and Corvera airport, but that will have to wait for next year.
Even if you could get to Corvera airport, there’s not much point going on either Thursday December 23 or Sunday December 26 because airport workers are going on strike. Unions have called for strike action over these crucial dates in the holiday period to protest that workers in the air traffic control company Enaire have not received a payment that was promised to them in 2020, while their counterparts in Aena did.
If the stoppages go ahead, there is sure to be chaos at the airport, as 2,000 Enaire workers are expected to skip work on those days. However, there is still some hope, as a representative from one of the unions has explained that they are calling for the strikes with plenty of time to spare so that the two parties have time to negotiate and reach an agreement before the festive period.
Corvera currently receives flights from, and flies to, Manchester and Brussels. Anyone who had flights booked to or from Corvera on the dates when the strike is happening is recommended to keep a close eye on whether they will be cancelled, going ahead as planned or diverted to another airport. Here’s the contact number for Corvera, in case you want to call: (+34) 913 211 000
The best outcome for everyone, of course, would be if there were no strike at all because the unions win their battle and receive the money they say is owed to workers. In the meantime, let’s hope the little people can get their way this time, as well.
It’s not going to be a merry Christmas all-round, unfortunately, as new Covid regulations may put the kibosh on many Yuletide travel plans. Even if your flight is able to leave, in an attempt to stem the spread of the Omicron variant, the British government announced that, from December 7, all passengers returning to the UK from Spain will be required to present a pre-departure PCR or lateral flow test. The coronavirus tests must be taken a maximum of 48 hours prior to arrival in the UK.
It’s not all bad news, however, as this regulation doesn’t apply to people who have a passport issued in the EU or Spanish residency.
¡¿Cuánto cuesta?!
It’s no secret that the cost of living in Spain is going up, and there sadly doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. You may not have noticed it when you’re out browsing the shelves in the supermarket, but your bank balance might be feeling the brunt as the price of staple foodstuffs like pasta, milk, meat and eggs all rose by 21% in the last six months.
It is mainly animal products that have gone up in price the most, including beef, chicken, lamb and even margarine, while only apples and carrots have gone down in price by between 3% and 10%. Oh, and shaving foam dropped in price by 3.1% too, if you’re really feeling the pinch and looking for an extreme diet.
In the restaurants (assuming they’re open, aren’t full to their reduced capacity and let you in after you show your QR code on your Covid pass), there are also tricks that waiters use to get you to pay a little extra, from charging for a glass of tap water or some ice to putting extra bread on the table even when you didn’t ask for it.
That’s why we put together a little explainer to help you know what they are allowed to charge extra for and which items should definitely be complimentary, so that you don’t get caught out.
For example, the only places that tap water must be given free are Andalucía, Castilla y Leon, the Balearic Islands and Navarra, whereas everywhere else the bar or restaurant may charge you for bottled mineral water if they like. Wherever you are in Spain, though, you can only be charged for ice and bread if they’re on the menu.
Murcia
It’s not only airport workers who undertaking work stoppages in Murcia this month. Another sector in the Region of Murcia is also planning a strike at the end of December: truckers across Murcia are going on strike between December 20 and 22. This week, the truck drivers threatened to extend the stoppage into January, endangering the supply chain for shops and supermarkets across the Region during the festive period.
Murcia city still had no Christmas lights at the beginning of this week, despite having promised a switch-on in early December, but after weeks of criticism and complaints from the public, the city council finally began installing their decorations this Tuesday. In what could be seen as an effort to win back the public’s favour, the council also announced that they would be giving away 100,000 two-for-one tickets to the ‘Magical Kingdom of Murcia’ fair.Over in the municipality of Cartagena, Local Police will be cracking down on traffic rules next year, as the predicted revenue from traffic violations for 2022 has been increased from 2.2 to 3.2 million euros. The increased vigilance is going to be implemented both in the city and the surrounding areas, which include many of the roads which connect to Mar Menor villages and towns, such as Los Nietos and Los Urrutias. Some have criticised the move, stating that increasing the revenue expectations only serves to rinse drivers’ pockets and could create deficits if the target is not met.
Also this week, a tragic death took place in Santomera after a 63-year-old woman choked to death on a piece of octopus while enjoying a meal with her family. The woman reportedly got a piece of octopus stuck in her throat and, despite a family member and medical staff attempting to save her, she sadly
passed away. In another choking incident, Local Police in Lorca managed to save a two-month-old baby after the emergency services were alerted to an infant who was struggling to breathe. The heroic officers managed to dislodge the food and reopen the baby’s airways before the ambulance arrived.
passed away. In another choking incident, Local Police in Lorca managed to save a two-month-old baby after the emergency services were alerted to an infant who was struggling to breathe. The heroic officers managed to dislodge the food and reopen the baby’s airways before the ambulance arrived.There was, however, some good news for an autochthonous endangered species in the Region: the Iberian lynx. The municipality of Lorca has been chosen as one of the sites where the species will be reinserted into the wild in a bid to increase the size of the lynx population, in a collaborative project between the regional governments in Murcia and Andalucía.
Spain
Covid figures aren’t the only thing that are on the up-and-up in Spain, as electricity prices actually doubled this week to reach a staggering 216.74 euros/MWh after experiencing a temporary decline. House prices are also on the rise in Spain due to a simple case of supply and demand, according to the experts, with the cost of new and resale residential properties on the coast and in larger cities jumping by 1.2% in November.
The DGT has this week launched its annual Christmas campaign and the traffic authorities are determined to reduce the number of road deaths this festive season by installing 20,000 daily controls throughout the country where officers will be checking the alcohol and drug level of drivers. The program is a vital one, as the DGT has highlighted the fact that, last year, alcohol remained the second most common factor in traffic accidents in Spain, only behind distractions such as using a mobile phone. In fact, of the 597 drivers who died on Spanish roads in 2020, almost 49% of them tested positive for alcohol or drugs.
One driver in Galicia was left stunned this week when traffic cops pulled him over, not for exceeding any limits, but for the incorrect use of a dashcam. When the matter was referred to the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, the motorist was found to be illegally recording the perimeter outside his vehicle and was slapped with a 1,000-euro fine. Dashcams have proven invaluable to many drivers who find themselves in the unfortunate situation of an accident, but it’s vital to know the rules and regulations in order to avoid a hefty sanction.
After the government announced last week that they will be introducing a raft of new motoring laws, yet another decree has been submitted in order to regulate tobacco use, and one of the suggested measures is to ban smoking in private vehicles. In addition, it has been proposed that all tobacco products have generic packaging, that smoking be permanently prohibited on bar and restaurant terraces and that e-cigarettes be subject to the same regulations as tobacco.
The hospitality industry, which already feels hard done by at the hands of the Spanish government, is understandably on the warpath after learning of the plan to ban smoking in outdoor areas of bars and restaurants, a move which industry bosses claim is simply “stupid”, considering that business owners can already freely implement this rule if they so wish.
Something which will have hoteliers rejoicing this Christmas, however, is the guarantee by the powers that be in Spain that there will be no generalised alcohol shortage. The administration has however acknowledged that certain brands might be a bit hard to get hold of due to the global supply crisis.
Coronavirus may not be the only thing dampening the festive cheer this year, as activists have called for the Spanish government to ban the use of fireworks and firecrackers, or at the very least, introduce legislation so that the bangers must be noiseless. While these light shows are synonymous with many celebrations in Spain, there is a very good reason behind the request: protecting our furry friends. The Spanish Federation for Animal Protection has highlighted that fireworks can cause tremors, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, extreme fear and even death in both domestic and wild animals, and activists feel that Spain should follow the lead of other countries by celebrating festivals in other ways, such as light or drone displays.
Alicante
Persistent strong winds and coastal weather phenomena across the region of Valencia and in Alicante province have made the news this week.
A yellow weather warning for blustery conditions and high waves in coastal areas, issued by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), has remained in place for much of the week and into the weekend, with winds of up to 80km/h reported in several towns.
In Alicante, 70km/h gusts were so fierce, police were forced to close Santa Barbara Castle as a safety precaution, and it is will remain shut until further notice, which is expected to be this weekend or early next week at the latest. The closure came just two days after a new shuttle bus service was announced following months of criticism from the public and tourism bodies over the lack of working lifts – which have since been repaired – and a minibus service meaning anybody with reduced mobility and non-car owners were previously unable to visit the fortress.Staying in Alicante city, unwanted visitors are causing a stir with horrified residents claiming a plague of rats has taken over central streets in the city, sharing footage of a large rat brazenly crossing a road at a busy junction as passersby look on. Despite lodging formal complaints to the city council about the serious health hazard, locals say “nothing effective has been done”.
Meanwhile, the pressure is on regional authorities to do something about a disgraceful lack of emergency ambulance cover in Alicante province, with reports that local councils are being forced to hire their own private vehicles due to a shortage of ambulances supplied by state health authorities.
Calpe and Pilar de la Horadada are just two of the towns where the local authority is having to spend extra taxpayers’ money to transport patients to hospitals dozens of kilometres away, with the latter shelling out 570,000 a year for the service. Both Town Halls have asked the regional Health Department on several occasions to increase the number of ambulances, but their requests have been declined.
If they can stay alive long enough, residents in Pilar de la Horadada will be able to enjoy Christmas celebrations this month and into January. The Christmas spirit is well and truly alive in the town, with a wave of Nativity Scene inaugurations, shopper voucher campaigns and the launch of bumper programmes of festive activities.
Elche unveiled its beautifully detailed Belén nativity scene this week, made up of more than 600 figures and animals. Visitors can go along and take a look at the masterpiece at the Hort del Xocolater next to the Palmeral de Elche until January 9.Orihuela inaugurates its town Belén next Tuesday, while Denia Council has been slammed over the lack of Christmas lights which should have been switched on at the end of November.
In other, somewhat more gruesome, news this week, a man in Elche was savagely beaten with a motorbike helmet and a baseball bat after he reprimanded a woman for dropping a piece of tangerine skin on the floor. The woman’s 61-year-old partner, who lashed out at the man who tried to urge her to keep public streets clean, was arrested for the vicious attack. It’s enough to make anyone think twice about wanting to be a good citizen and reproach or approach anyone to tell them not to litter, to wear a facemask properly when they’re supposed to or not to speed. Can you imagine if it had been a whole orange peel? The poor man could have been murdered!
In Torrevieja, the family of a Finnish woman police believe was killed, dismembered and disposed of by her partner have agreed to assist the investigation and send DNA to help confirm the identity of the victim whose limbs were discovered in a bin. Grisly stuff, but perhaps not unsurprising in the light of the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics which show that the Valencia region has a higher murder rate by ratio than the national average in Spain.
And ending on a sweeter note, if you’re looking for an exclusive gift and money is no object, the most expensive turrón (Spanish almond treat traditionally eaten at Christmastime) in the world could be yours for a whopping 250 euros for half a kilo – and it’s made in Alicante!
Andalucía
Marbella is famed for being the veritable sunshine capital of Spain, a place where glorious beaches meet out-of-this world properties for a true luxury lifestyle. Well, it’s not only expats seeking a slower, sunnier life on the Costa del Sol, as proved this week after police dismantled a major drug trafficking ring operating out of a luxury villa between Marbella and Puerto Banus, in the ultra-exclusive Nagüelles area.
The house was being used as a base for an Eastern European drug smuggling gang who grew marijuana there and, under the guise of being a Málaga antiques firm, sent it in cabinets with false bottoms to Germany for distribution throughout the rest of Europe. The cannabis seized by police is estimated to have had a street value of 2.5 million euros, although the criminals weren’t using this money to pay for the property in the high-end area.
No, like most marijuana growers, they were living illegally in the building, not connected to the electricity grid but siphoning their power from nearby to have the lights on all day and night to grow the plants quicker. Presumably by having their base of operations in a big, fancy villa, they thought they would be above suspicion and above the law.
Also under investigation by the law are a Málaga man who was clever enough to post a video of himself driving at close to 300km/h on social media and a waffle shop specialising in penis- and vagina-shaped desserts which put a Christmas nativity scene in their shop window featuring the holy family as genitalia. While the former committed the offence of spiriting along senselessly on the public thoroughfare, of course, the latter was committed to being offensive to spiritual sensibilities.
The other arrest making news this week was the father who beat the paedophile who sexually assaulted his daughter to death in an Estepona café at the weekend. The man approached the suspected paedophile from behind and threw him to the floor, then proceeded to kick him with steel-toe boots while shouting about how he had molested his daughter years before, when she was still a minor.
The aggressor was taken into custody, while the beaten man died on the operating table the next day while undergoing emergency spleen surgery. Murder means the taking of a human life, whosever it is, and while it’s tempting to say the aggrieved father should be released or celebrated in some way, the fact of the matter is he killed a person who had as much right to live as anyone, even if he should have been in prison himself.
It’s not all crime and doom and gloom on the Costa del Sol, though. The most heartwarming story of the week was surely the Irish mother who gave birth to premature twins while on their ‘babymoon’ in Málaga!
Tori O’Rourke and Phil Hillier from Galway were on holiday last August, having been given the all-clear to fly by their doctor since the babies weren’t due until this December, but then they got a nasty surprise when Tori began to feel unwell.
They went to hospital, where she was taken to the ICU and doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section to get the babies out – at just 24 weeks old! Mother and baby stayed in the Spanish hospital for two and a half months, but twins Emily and Jacob were in an incubator. While Phil was only allowed to enter the hospital for rare visits and Tori was not allowed to see her babies for weeks.
In the end, it was a GoFundMe page that raised almost 20,000 euros to help the family pay Phil’s accommodation costs in Málaga and to pay for their flights home to Ireland this month, where they have gone back into hospital and baby Jacob has now undergone surgery on his eyes. Both babies are doing well and are safe.
You may have missed…
The arrival of the Corvera Amazon logistic centre has been felt by the entire Region of Murcia, but the Murcian countryside has been the most benefitted by the online shopping giants’ presence.
This cold snap makes it easy to forget the stifling summer, but with extreme heat waves becoming more frequent in Spain, local councils in Seville and Barcelona are creating ‘climate shelters’ to provide citizens with a place to go when the temperature rises.
A Spanish company in the Murcia town has been investigated for taking advantage of the desperate economic situation of irregular immigrants to pay them next to nothing and deprive them of basic labour and health rights.
The EU reached an agreement this week to extend the end of roaming charges for another 10 years, meaning that calls and surfing the internet using mobile data when travelling to another EU country will continue to be free as it has since June 2017.
The Local Police force in Alhama de Murcia have asked for the public’s help to identify the owners of two dogs who were launched from a car after having their microchips ripped out.
That’s your lot for this week. This is our penultimate Editor’s Roundup Bulletin of the year. There will be one last bulletin next Saturday and then we’ll be off for a couple of weeks. Don’t worry – you’ll get the next instalment on January 8 and everyone will get the full number of bulletins they paid for.
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See you next week!
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