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Covid-19: What does it mean if you live in one of Mallorca’s confined zones?

The Local Spain
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Covid-19: What does it mean if you live in one of Mallorca’s confined zones?
File Photo of a closed bar in Mallorca: AFP

Health authorities on the island of Mallorca have confined four zones of the capital Palma amid rapidly rising Covid-19 cases. But what impact does this have on daily life?

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Residents of the neighbourhoods of Son Gotleu, Can Capes, La Soledat Nord and part of Son Canals, four barrios with a combined population of just under  23,000 people face restricted movement for at least 15 days beginning at 10pm on Friday September 11 in a bid to curb transmission of the virus.

This means residents will only be allowed out of the confinement limits for “essential” reasons  and  entry to restricted to outsiders who have essential business within the confinement zones.

What is “essential business?”

Basically going to work school or to attend a medical appointment  are the only reasons why you are allowed to cross confinement lines.

Caring for an elderly relative, a child, dependant or those considered vulnerable are also valid reasons to leave or enter the confined area.

Visiting the bank or other financial institutions is also considered a valid reason, as is legal or administrative processes that cannot be postponed.

People are still able to transit the town by driving through it as long as they do not stop there.

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Are you allowed to leave your home?

Although people are not strictly confined to their homes and can go outside to take exercise or visit the supermarket. You can even visit local businesses and that includes restaurants and bars, which have a closing time imposed of 10pm.

In addition all religious services except for funerals are suspended and even those are limited to a third of capacity and a maximum of 15 people.

Sports centres, gyms, entertainment venues and even public parks and gardens will all be closed including children’s playgrounds.

The decision was taken  by regional health authorities in the Balearic Islands as community transmission in these neighbourhoods soared with the latest data showing  496 cases per 100,000 people, three times as much as the average for the entire island of Mallorca.

The confinement was announced the day before children across the island started back at school. 

Spain continues to be the hardest hit country in Europe reaching a total of over half a million confirmed cases of Covid-19 this week and recording 29,516 related deaths.

This gives Spain a per-capita infection rate about twice that of France and Italy, according to official data with an average of 236 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.

Madrid continues to be the epicentre of infection with one third of all new cases across Spain recorded in the capital and an incidence rate of 543 cases per 100,000 people.

Despite this, authorities in the capital are refusing to consider a perimetre confinement of the kind seen in Mallorca and isolated towns across Spain including in Valencia, Salamanca and Valladolid.

 

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