Murcia Today Weekly News Bulletin 14th August

It's been a sobering week, as Covid continues to totally dominate the news, the numbers of cases climbing at a steady rate; in the Murcia region, the rest of Spain, throughout Europe and around the world.

Here in Murcia the sun is shining, beaches are virtually empty even though it's August and in general, safety measures are being strictly enforced. Readers who have returned to the UK report that they felt safer here than in the UK, their flights were virtually empty and they found the wearing of masks of little inconvenience. For most of us here, the scale of the Covid pandemic is difficult to envisage, as on a daily level life is comfortable and the inconvenience minimal, although in truth, the number of cases as of today are higher than at any point during lockdown and the need to observe safety measures is greater than ever, although few people are interested in knowing that. 

In general, the outbreaks are concentrated into specific bars, companies or urban areas and there is little risk in wandering around a virtually deserted tourist attraction, eating in an open-air, well-disinfected beachside bar or sitting on a socially distanced beach, providing residents and visitors wear masks as instructed, wash hands and apply gel when touching something in a transited public area. 

With many countries having gone through lockdowns and successfully reduced the rate of contagion down to low levels, hopes were high that fears of returning to the same point again would deter most of us from relaxing our guard too much and putting ourselves at risk of contagion, but it appears that the message that covid is no respecter of age, gender, nationality, sun or rain has failed to get through, the result being outbreaks all over the world and a significant rise in new cases.

There are now nearly 21 million cases worldwide, more than 760,000 deaths and more than 13 million people having recovered from the virus according to the WHO today.

Covid Spain:

Last Friday the total of Covid cases in Spain was 314,362, and as of today, Friday 14th August, there are 342,813 positives, which means that during this week the Spanish Health Ministry has added 28,451 new cases into the count, the equivalent of 4,074 a DAY.

The Spanish Ministry of Health reports daily figures which show how many cases have been diagnosed within the last 24 hours, but only reports the cases which have been officially proven and checked in this figure, so the daily figures it reports are always lower than the official total published, but even these figures have nearly reached 3,000 a day for the last two days.

Yesterday health professionals in Spain issued a very strongly worded press release, expressing their extreme disappointment that the Spanish public were happy to come out and clap them during the crisis, yet were unwilling to undertake basic preventative actions to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure that members of their families did the same thing. 

They warned that they were emotionally and physically exhausted by the pandemic and warned that if stricter measures were not undertaken to prevent the further spread of the virus that they feared they would be overwhelmed by what they see as a situation starting to spin out of control.

They urged the government to invest more into resources, more into health professionals and to take stricter measures to stop the spread of the virus, based on a position with experience gained to date and the knowledge gained to this moment of how the contagions are spreading.

Massive resource has been invested into finding vaccines and understanding the virus.

A study funded by the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid, which has been responsible for the surveys examining the rate of infection throughout the country during the last few months, was published on Friday. This was produced by Antonio Guirao, professor of the optics area of the Physics department of the University of Murcia, and applies physical-mathematical epidemiological models to official data.

The study simulated the predicted development of the virus following the current rate of infections and concluded that should the case numbers continue to grow at their current rate, that by the end of September Spanish hospitals would be saturated with the epidemic "out of control" and "in exponential growth."

The study forecast around one hundred deaths per day should the epidemic follow the predicted model.

The last concrete data published about outbreaks in Spain indicated that there are 837 focal points of outbreaks active, involving 9,200 cases. Since the end of the state of alarm there have been 1,181 outbreaks registered, affecting 13,200 people.

Aragón, Catalonia and Madrid are the areas most preoccupying the health ministry.

No national lockdown

During the week the ex-pat community was lead to believe by a costa del sol "news" product that the Spanish government would be going into lockdown on September 18th. This "news" caused a certain amount of consternation on social media and as is the way of the internet was taken as "fact" by some and re-published as being fact, without any of those republishing it bothering to check the source of the piece, which of course, didn´t exist as no such possibility had been discussed anywhere in the Spanish media.

This topic did finally make the Spanish media, but only when a journalist asked Spain’s Director of the Co-ordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, who presents the national Covid figures at the weekday press briefings held by the Ministry of Health about the "news".

He was somewhat surprised by the question and answered that: "In no forum or meeting in which I have participated has the subject even been mentioned, there are many hoaxes that run, I do not know with what intention; if at some point this has to be raised relating to the evolution of the epidemic, then obviously it will be raised and the decisions made that have to be made, "he said.

“We have to learn to live with the virus, “ he said, “ whether we want to or not we have to learn to live alongside the virus, at least until we have a vaccine, “ he said and “learn to go back to social, educative and work-related activities in a different fashion.”

He talked about the current problem with schools which has been a topic much-discussed in the national media as concerns are aired about the forthcoming return to school given the current rise in case numbers:

“If we have to close schools, classrooms or groups of pupils because the evolution of the virus requires this, then we will have to do this.”

“If it’s necessary to go one step further and close the schools in an area or province, or all of Spain then this will be evaluated, “ he said.

So he’s not ruling out the possibility that further measures will be evaluated should the need arise, but is denying that any such plans currently exist based on the existing situation and the newspaper article is either a hoax or a misunderstanding.

Later on Friday Minister for Health, Salvador Illa, also denied that there were any plans to return to the exceptional situation in the early days of the pandemic when the central Government declared a state of emergency and the Prime Minister effectively took control of the country, "no, we are not contemplating this at the moment, " he said.

Autonomous regions taking their own decisions

The complicated political and administrative structure of Spanish Government gives considerable power to each of the 17 regional autonomous governments, each of whom controls their own regional health service and runs their own region via an elected regional parliament.

The state of emergency was declared in order to try and clamp down on the spread of Covid, reacting to an immediate and extraordinary situation and to co-ordinate an emergency response and was done in full collaboration with the regional governments, each extension agreed with the regions and negotiated through a series of specific conditions and compromises.

The regional governments are extremely reluctant to even consider a return to that situation and continue to work at a local level adapting their decisions to suit the particular circumstances in their own regions.

There are now so many outbreaks and so many different restrictions across the regions, that unifying them all would be an almost impossible task and the virus is evolving in each region in a completely different fashion depending on the geography of the region its climate, what type of activity is undertaken there and the demographics of its population.

By now, the economic impact of a hard lockdown has also made the prospect of another across-the-board lockdown a remote possibility and the growing realisation is that we all just have to accept where we are, work together in order to limit the spread of the virus and find ways in which businesses can co-exist with the virus until vaccines become available.

It is certainly possible that some regions will impose harsher restrictions this autumn based on their own situations and in the full understanding of the economic implications at a regional level.

Regions can request that the Spanish Government put them into a localised State of Alarm/ Emergency as the Spanish Constitution does not permit the confinement of the population by any other mechanism. Judges can grant specific movement restrictions for an individual or small group of individuals if the council/govt./health authority requests it through a judicial mechanism, but only the national government can issue a large-scale order through the state of emergency mechanism and will only do that in cases of extreme need.

Lockdowns/mobility restrictions will be highly localised, with specific restrictions relating to buildings, companies, individual businesses or residential areas and courts have issued dozens of such orders across the country during the last 2 months at the request of regional health authorities.

Regional health authorities are focusing their efforts on locating positive cases, tracking all known contacts in order to test and isolate them, and then if necessary, confining specific buildings/localised areas.

This weekend Catalonia will be undertakig massive door to door PCR testing in its worst affected areas and on Friday Madrid announced that it would also be starting intensive PCR testing in the streets of areas in which it has major outbreaks. Madrid is currently experiencing a rapid expansion of the virus once again.

It is hoped that the new Covid Tracker app. will be in nationwide use by the middle of September and this week some regional authorities, such as Andalusia, have confirmed their intention to support the project, indeed Andalusia has specifically requested that further trial simulations be undertaken in some of its provinces.Castilla y León and Castilla La Mancha have also declared their intention to adopt the tracker app.

Murcia denies regional lockdown is contemplated

On Thursday the Murcian regional president denied that the Murcia Region is planning to return to a full lockdown situation to stem the growing number of cases, " we can´t return to a total confinement situation, we must not, “ he said during a visit to Totana, which has this week left a localised "mobility restriction" caused by a local outbreak.

The Basque Country is a key industrial area and is also home to the Bilbao ferry port, an entry point used by many foreigners entering Spain by sea. This will be the strictest set of conditions imposed anywhere in Spain.

Time to act

Examining the source of transmissions is becoming an overwhelming priority, as the focus changes from locking down regions to controlling local outbreaks and analysis of the source of outbreaks has highlighted that many of the outbreaks are linked to similar sources; nocturnal activities, parties, private family gatherings, botellon parties amongst the young etc

So on Friday the national government announced a series of strict measures which will be applied by ALL of the autonomous regions to respond to the situation described above and make a major effort to halt the spread of the virus and NOT be forced into another lockdown.

More than 7 million Covid tests have been carried out in Spain since the pandemic began. Spain has performed 4,983,935 PCR tests since the COVID-19 epidemic began, and 2,143,910 rapid antibody tests, bringing the total to 7,472,031 diagnostic tests for COVID-19, of which 407,702 correspond to the week of July 31st to August 6th.

Seville man leaves hospital after 140 days fighting Covid: The man spent 125 days in intensive care and 140 days in hospital before finally being released this week.

Man arrested for refusing to wear a mask on a bus in Castilla y León; this story is typical of many this week, with the public showing a growing intolerance of those refusing to comply with the regulations. the driver refused to move the bus until he either put on his mask or got off the bus, and in the end the police had to physically remove him from the bus. 

We've also had interesting reports from several readers about the intolerance on aircraft. The lady who sent this photograph reported that Spanish police were waiting when her Ryanair flight landed to remove two British passengers who had refused to wear their masks throughout the flight and were abusive to crew. Other readers commented when the story was posted on social media that they too had witnessed this happening, with police arresting passengers refusing to wear masks on arrival at their destination.

11 year old girl who had tested positive for Covid dies in Tarragon: this appears to be one of the rare cases in which apparently healthy children suffer severe complications after contracting Covid.

Covid Murcia:

Sunday 9th August: 190 new Covid cases in 2 days as Murcia reaches 1074 active cases. Murcia hit a record high on Sunday evening following  two consecutive days with just under 100 new cases on Saturday (99) and Sunday (91). Click for Sunday figures

Monday 10th August; 40 new cases, 1,099 active cases. Click to read

Communal areas of Los Nietos yacht and sailing club closed due to Covid.An employee of the club has tested positive so although the sailing facilities remain open, the club facilities have been temporarily closed. Click to read

Three Covid positives in Mazarrón fishing sector reported on Monday; the covid situation in Mazarrón has been easing off all week, as the main outbreak is contained. Very few new cases have been reported in the municipality this week.

Four months in jail for spitting on a policeman when asked to wear a mask. Police in the Murcia municipality alone have issued over 2,000 mask-related fines since July 18th. Click to read

Tuesday 11th: 34 new cases; total 1081 positives.Unfortunately the number of fatalities increased by one following the death of a 90 year old woman in the Rafael Mendéz hospital in Lorca on Tuesday. This is the only death to have occurred in the region since the 1st July when a 98 year old woman who caught the virus from a family member related to the “Bolivian outbreak” died.

Wednesday 12th; 118 new cases: 1126 total. 48 of the new cases are in Murcia City which is increasingly becoming a “Covid hotspot” in the region. The worst affected areas are the Barrio del Carmen and Floridablanca which are across the old bridge in the area close to the former artillery barracks and church of El Carmen, alongside the garden of Floridablanca on the opposite side of the river to the town hall and cathedral, as well as the districts of San Andrés and Puente Tocinos. On Thursday and Friday the figures continued to rise in these areas to nearly 300 cases and Murcia city council installed a "Punto Covid" testing centre in the El Carmen district to begin mass testing.

Other municipal resources are being directed to the Covid situation; Local Police are going to houses in which patients who should be maintaining quarantine and are not answering the phone live; Social Services is helping in the distribution of food and medicine to people who cannot leave home; Civil Protection is supporting the PCR testing point in the El Carmen health center; and municipal cleaning services have intensified daily disinfections of playgrounds and sensitive areas.

Local police are also carrying out patrols in areas in which large gatherings habitually take place at the weekends, such as the La Fica fairground and the rambla de Torreagüera.

The council has also prepared an action plan for the autumn and purchased sufficient stocks of masks and gel to last for six months.

On Wednesday mobility restrictions were lifted from the Totana municipality: During the week of July 20th to 27th when the restrictions were first imposed, 129 cases were registered in Totana, with a cumulative incidence of 403 per 100,000 inhabitants. Two and a half weeks later, the number of active Covid positives has now fallen to 48 and the cumulative incidence has dropped to 150 per 100,000.

This is still high, but the Covid-19 Monitoring Committee has determined that there is no need to maintain the mobility restriction, however certain preventative measures will continue as the coronavirus outbreak is still active.

The mobility restrictions are eliminated, so that it is possible to enter and leave the municipality, and the time limitations for shops are eliminated, so shops should continue to observe the same hygiene conditions as in the rest of the Region.The capacity for bars and restaurants has been set at 50 percent indoors and 75 percent outdoors. Meetings or gatherings are limited to 10 people.

Thursday 13th: 125 new cases: active total 1199. Another record high for the region.

Friday 14th; 133 cases in the last 24 hours; another new record for the Murcia Region, bringing the active total to 1307: 42 in Murcia (bringing the total to almost 300), 16 in Cartagena, 14 in Mula (a new outbreak in 2 families), 8 in Lorca, 10 in Totana, and 7 in Torre Pacheco. At the end of the week there were 1,243 patients in home isolation and 64 in hospital, of whom 3 are in intensive care.

Police close roast chicken and take-away food shop in San Javier when an employee continued to work after being diagnosed Covid positive: Anyone who has made purchases from La Cocinera in Euro Roda is urged to take a PCR test Click to read

Mazarrón giving away free covid towels: Respect my space the towels say!!!! Click to read

Distribution of Covid cases by municipality for the Region of Murcia this week:

What the figures clearly show is that although the well-publicised outbreaks are clearly identifiable by the larger numbers of figures, that there is clear evidence of a much wider spread of contagion than most residents probably understood, with covid cases have been reported in municipalities which were largely covid-free during the lockdown and peak weeks of the epidemic. Click for full article

This is the spread of new cases diagnosed in the last 14 days by municipality:

Cases by health area:

The number of cases by health area is an interesting indicator of how cases are distributed, the incidence per 100,000/ population (IA*) giving a clearer idea of where the virus is centred.

Looking at the results for the last 14 days, the focal points of the contagions can clearly be seen as the denser urban areas and the known outbreaks. The health areas of Lorca, Cartagena (which includes Mazarrón),Murcia east (city), Murcia west and Vega media del Segura which includes Molina de Segura and the lower area of the Ricote Valley, all have the highest number of cases and IA*.

The lowest areas are the north-west, Altiplano, the higher areas of the Segura river valley and the Mar Menor.

It's interesting to see these figures as they show that the focal points of the infections have been largely due to contagions within the resident and business community of the region and are not due to tourists from outside areas bringing cases of Covid with them.

Indeed, the number of cases amongst the coastal areas which currently have the higher populations at the moment, are considerably lower than could have been the case. This is being attributed to the "outdoor life" in holiday areas, with most holidaymakers out on the beach and observing social distancing, and the precautions being taken to protect them. Had the discos and clubs not been closed there could have been a much higher incidence, but at the moment, coastal areas are keeping the cases down.

Economic effects

The Spanish economy suffered the biggest crash in the eurozone in the first 6 months of 2020
Data published this Friday by the EU statistics office Eurostat reveal that the economy of the euro zone countries plummeted 12.1% in the second quarter as a result of the pandemic. If the focus is broadened to the entire European Union (EU), the drop is 11.7%, in both cases the largest decrease since records began in 1995.

This figure is much higher than the decreases in the first quarter of the year, when GDP in the euro area fell by 3.6% and in the EU by 3.2%, which reveals the impact of the confinement on the economy of all countries of the continent, which began at the end of March but mainly spanned the second quarter (April to June).

Compared with the first quarter, GDP has fallen in all the Member States for which Eurostat has data, with the fall in Spain being the most pronounced, at 18.5%. If the focus is broadened, only the United Kingdom surpasses Spain, where GDP has fallen by 20.4%.

Other countries are also expecting serious recessions, although their own falls are less specatacular than those of Spain and the UK: Portugal (-13.9%); France (-13.8%); Germany (-10.1%); Italy (-12.4%) or Belgium (-12.2%), while the economies that suffered the least negative impact in the quarter were those of Finland (-3.2%) ), Lithuania (-5.1%) and Denmark (-7.4%). 

The figures leave no doubt about the deep crisis that we will face in the coming months: the EU has lost more than 5.5 million jobs in the second quarter, of which 4.5 million correspond to the countries that make up the eurozone, which represents a record fall in job occupancy of -2.6% in the EU and -2.8% among the Eurozone compared to the first quarter.

Spain registered a decrease of 1.5 million employed persons between April and June, according to Eurostat data, falling to 18.66 million. This means that three out of every ten jobs lost in the eurozone during the second quarter were in Spain.

The Bank of Spain published an article this Thursday analysing "The financial situation of the workers most affected by the pandemic: an analysis based on the financial survey of families" in which it highlighted that the principal impact of this crisis is affecting the so-called "social industries", such as retail commerce, restaurants, the arts, recreation and entertainment, all of which are suffering particularly severe job losses.

These are also sectors which employ a greater number of young people and women, which "suggests that the employed with lower incomes are the most affected by the pandemic, since wages increase with age".

The study concludes that 28% of workers in social industries live in households whose financial assets represented less than a month's income. Said assets arise from the comparison between the amount of savings of families (current accounts, shares and investment and pension funds) and their income. Furthermore, 8% of those households had bank debts whose payments exceeded 40% of their gross income.
In short, while they have to face high indebtedness, they find it virtually impossible to save and have little back-up resources if they are left without income due to the loss of their job, and are less likely to have unemployment benefit to fall back on as most of their work is temporary or on short contracts.

This is the reason why outbreaks of Covid have been particularly noticeable in areas such as Mazarrón for example; the outbreak in an agricultural plant affecting low-income workers who continued to work in the full knowledge that they were contagious because they were afraid of losing their jobs if they admitted to being ill, thus increasing the size of the outbreak considerably.

The latest government bans are already hitting the leisure sector hard and in Murcia it has been estimated that the closure of almost 500 discos and nocturnal leisure venues as well as 450 "pubs" will directly impact on 4,800 jobs.

As the summer tourist season limps to an end, many coastal bars and hotels will opt to close for the winter season this year, costing thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Companies supplying food and beverages to to the hostelry sector have already reported significant falls in demand for their product and this feeds down to many other associated businesses; even the shepherd who grazes the hillsides around my own home says that the price of his organic lambs has dropped because demand has fallen in the restaurant sector.

Businesses depending on tourism for an income are also expected to suffer severe losses. 

There is no doubting the difficulties being faced by airlines at the moment as the Covid pandemic continues to cause chaos for travellers worldwide.

Air travel is one of the sectors experiencing the greatest problems, with airlines facing loss of customer confidence and a dramatic decline in demand for flights as countries impose restrictions on travellers either entering their own borders or on their own nationals travelling abroad.

This week the latest air traffic stats were published by Aena: During July airports within the Aena network (virtually every airport in Spain) lost 76.2% of their normal July international traffic, processing only 6,987,828 passengers. Most airports lost 70 - 80% of their passenger traffic, a few examples being Madrid Barajas (-83.3%), Barcelona El Prat (-83.7%) and Alicante Elche (-75.4%).

The Canary and Balearic islands processed the highest number of passengers, Palma de Mallorca handling the highest number of passengers in Spain during July. However, even the 1,102,854 passengers processed by the airport was 73.8% less than normal.

The latest list of countries from within the Schengen zone imposing restrictions on travel to and from Spain makes sobering reading, the UK just one of many countries advising against travel to Spain due to the growing level of Covid cases within the country. Throughout the week the restrictions placed on travel to Spain have continued to grow; Italy now insists travellers from Spain take a Covid test, Germany upped its restrictions twice during the week and by Friday had strongly recommended that Germans avoid Spain altogether, minus the Canary Islands.

The decision of the British Government to impose a 14 day quarantine on travellers between Spain and the UK is hitting the Murcia region hard, as 50% of tourists to this region come from the UK, and the results of that decision are now clearly visible on flights from the UK, many of which are carrying less than 50% of their normal passenger levels, making it very easy for passengers to travel safely with social distancing on flights and in airports very easy to observe as the image clearly shows.

The only upside of this is that readers report feeling very safe when they do travel!

Many passengers have chosen not to fly due to the difficulties of complying with a 14 day quarantine upon their return to the UK and those who want to visit families in the UK are also faced with the prospect of having to spend their 14 day family visit in a quarantine as well, the result being a significant number of cancellations.

Corvera airport (which lost 80% of its traffic) faces a very difficult autumn, as Jet2 have already pulled Corvera flights for this autumn, obliging passengers to fly to Alicante and both Ryanair and EasyJet have shuffled their own flight schedules to try and consolidate the number of flights to a minimum in the hope of making them viable and maintaining a service. 

The same situation is occurring at every Spanish airport, with reduced services and reduced timetables, as airlines adjust their schedules to meet the demand, reshuffle their aircraft and personnel onto the routes most likely to cover their costs and attempt to keep their heads above water for whenever we switch into a “post-covid” scenario. Readers from other regions of Spain have also been in contact this week saying that flights from other areas are regularly cancelled and services "adjusted" on a daily basis.

Hotel reservations are also reported to be 50% down in the Murcia region, although the principal cancellations during July relate to the decline in the domestic market, many Spaniards choosing to rent country farmhouses, take holidays in camper vans or simply stay at home this year.

The combination of which is that it will be more difficult for foreign tourists to come to Spain this autumn, Covid cases will continue to rise this autumn, which will logically affect the volume of business that any company selling products or services to a principally foreign market can expect to make this autumn/winter. It is inevitable that businesses will be forced to adjust the way they work, how many staff they employ and the way in which they do business this autumn. Some will inevitably close. Others will see new opportunities and new markets and expand, and some of our clients have already diversified their activities and are busier now than they've ever been. Others have already closed down. 

Fore-warned is fore-armed when making difficult decisions.

Cost of living fell in Murcia during July: falling prices in tourism, food and the hospitality sector reduced the cost of living. Click to read

Number of abandoned dogs in Spain has increased 25 percent since end of confinement:In Spain around 138,000 pets are abandoned annually

Other news;

Águilas opens new ITV centre: Click to read

Latest Mar Menor water quality measurements show stability: Click to read

Cartagena council will commission a report to remove mud and silt from Los Urrutias beaches.This month the council has moved from talking about the need to create a report to talking about commissioning the report!

The Mar Menor Inter-administrative Forum, a body created by the municipalities which fringe the Mar Menor and the regional government as a working body to move forward various projects relating to the management of the Mar Menor and co-ordinate actions between all those involved in the long-term process of resolving the issues relating to the lagoon, met this week to discuss a number of issues.Cartagena City Council has published its own press release relating to the points it considers to be relevant to its own municipality, principal of which is the ongoing problem of accumulated silt and rotting vegetation in the Los Urrutias and Punta Brava areas.The council has been threatening legal action and attempting to force the national Government to take responsibility for the cost of removing the mud for months and last month at the meeting of the Forum proposed that the municipalities just get on with the job and do it themselves.

This month mayoress, Ana Belén Castejón, reported that the council “will take a step forward and commission a report to remove the mud from the beaches of the Mar Menor.”The Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, insists that the municipalities fringing the Mar Menor are in charge of cleaning mud and sludge, and of course, the municipalities themselves, are always keen to avoid spending money un-necessarily and insist it should be done by the state.However, residents are growing extremely weary of the same old rhetoric and total lack of action to resolve the issues and have become increasingly militant and embarrassingly vocal about the topic, entirely understandable given the offensive odour close to their homes and the fact that this summer the beaches are still considered to be “not suitable for bathing” in their little corner of the lagoon due to the deposits of mud.

So this month, the step forward is the announcement that, "We are very clear that if we do not do it, no one will come to do it, so we are going to start working on the report that makes it possible and we will see later who assumes the cost of these much-needed works," the mayoress said after the meeting.

Obviously the Mayoress is keen to avoid spending council money if there is a chance that other bodies such as the regional government, can be persuaded to stump up the cash.......

No from the Ministry to the creation of a high commissioner for the Mar Menor

The Mayor of Cartagena once again expressed her opinion that a “high commissioner for the Mar Menor” should be appointed, regional Minister Antonio Luengo, said that the Government of Spain has rejected the proposal.

Fire at Jumilla recycling plant controlled: Click to read

Poison found on Mazarrón dog beach again: The same thing occurred about this time last year and dog owners using the dog beaches are being advised to take particular care. Click to read

Roman tributes return to Cartagena:Two honorific pedestals bearing inscriptions have been returned to Cartagena from the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, to form part of the static exhibition of the new Roman Forum Museum.
The pedestals, carved out of limestone, were embedded in the walls of the Castillo de la Concepción hundreds of years ago, suffering the same fate as many other important pieces of historic masonry whch were frequently re-used as construction materials.
In 1868 the section of the fortress in which they had been re-cycled was demolished, and the two pieces were sent to the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.
Both pedestals come from the tributes placed in the Forum building of the Roman colony of Carthago Nova, and can be dated to the end of the 1st century BC. and at the beginning of the 1st century A.D. Click for full article

Lorca planning new camper van area close to tourist attractions: Click to read

Warm weather brings forward the grape harvest in Jumilla: The very high temperatures in recent weeks, with several days above 40 ◦C and very hot nights, have accelerated the ripening of the earliest grape varieties and have meant that harvesting in the Jumilla D.O. is being brought forward by more than a week.Plots of red varieties Garnacha and Syrah, and white Sauvignon Blanc, have reached the optimal conditions of maturity, and other varieties such as Garnacha Tintorera, Macabeo, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon are expected to be ready for harvesting next week.

This is one of the longest harvests in Spain, since it begins in early August in the southern area and ends in the first weeks of November in the northernmost part.It is estimated that this season there is likely to be a level of grape production similar to that of last season, with prospects of around 15% more yield than in 2019 and with an excellent assessment of quality. Click for full article

Experimental farm in Mula reduces the use of fertilizers in agriculture through micro-organisms: Projects such as this are important in the campaign to encourage ecological agriculture and reduce nitrate use in the Campo de Cartagena and around the Mar Menor

An experimental farm located in the municipality of Mula, in the district of Yéchar, is hosting a research project examining the use of microorganisms in different production crops, making it possible to reduce the application of fertilizers for agriculture.

The project, developed by Ideagro, is obtaining important results in melon, tomato, broccoli, apricot and citrus crops, which are already being applied in agricultural productions in the Cartagena countryside and the Lorca countryside.The regional minister for agriculture visited the plot this week to see the project, expressing particular interest in supporting sustainable agriculture to limit the damage to the Cartagena aquifer which lies beneath the Campo de Cartagena and has been badly polluted by agricultural nitrates during the last 20 years of intensive farming.The new plan for the protection of the Mar Menor aims to limit the use of nitrates and encourage the use of ecological farming techniques in the Campo de Cartagena. Click for full article

Irregular migrants escape again as Spain uses diplomatic tools to fight the problem at source. Another wave of boats arrive overnight on Friday 14th

A chain of activity this week has linked the problem of irregular migration from Algeria to Murcia as Covid positives increase.

As of Friday afternoon there had been no new arrivals of irregular migrants in small boats on the Murcian coastline, but early in the evening reports came in that four more boats had been sighted in Cartagena waters, with the propect of favourable weather conditions bringing fears of a second major wave of small boats over the weekend.

By early Saturday morning 10 boatloads of migrants had arrived in Cartagena, 137 Algerian nationals successfully making the crossing, with more expected. Yet again, this will put the resources available under stress and exacerbate the arguments which have been simmering since the last major wave of boats arrived.

Even before this news, the topic continues to maintain a presence in the media due to the ongoing dissatisfaction with the current situation.

The most direct manifestation of this took place on Thursday when 17 Algerian migrants escaped from the Cabezo Beaza sports pavilion in Escombreras, Cartagena, and disappeared off into the surrounding countryside.

This is the fourth escape in Cartagena since the 25th July.

The migrants are reported to have forced the same rear door to the building through which a larger group formerly escaped, hurling bottles and abuse at the security guards who attempted to prevent their flight.

The Guardia Civíl was called in to try and retrieve the missing migrants who ran off into the countryside.

The migrants were in the sports pavilion in preventative quarantine as they had arrived on the Murcian coastline in boats containing other migrants who tested positive for Covid-19. Anyone actually testing positive with a PCR test is hospitalised to ensure they receive adequate treatment, and any other migrants sharing a boat, who have logically maintained close contact with them, must observe a 14 day quarantine.

As the migrant transit centres are closed due to the ongoing closure of the Moroccan and Algerian frontiers because of the Covid-19 pandemic, making it impossible to repatriate these individuals, the regional government has provided various locations including the Hotel Cenajo in Moratalla, the El Valle albergue on the outskirts of Murcia city and the sports centre of Cabezo Beaza in Cartagena as accommodation.

This escape occurred after the migrants, who have already been in the centre for nearly two weeks, were told that they must observe a further period of quarantine as one of their number had tested positive in a repeat test and been taken to hospital. Fearful that this was just a ploy to keep them locked up and that they would be repatriated back to Algeria, they broke out of the pavilion and escaped.

Red Cross translator accused of complicity

A 20 year old Moroccan translator working for Cruz Roja was arrested by the Guardia Civil following an altercation after the escape.

He has been accused of being unhelpful to the officers and of physically pushing the leading officer during the argument.

Allegedly, he refused to supply details relating to the identities of the men who had escaped (only 17 of the 24 migrants in the sports centre escaped) although he maintains that he didn´t have the information he was being asked to give available at that particular moment as the escape had been “quick and violent” and he hadn´t had time to gather the details, and alleges that the officers were brusque and aggressive in their attitude towards him.

After a preliminary court appearance he will be asked to give evidence in a formal investigation.

The Cruz Roja denies any impropriety in his behaviour and maintains that he played no part in the escape.

The Guardia Civíl want to see the pavilion closed and the migrants moved elsewhere for the duration of their quarantine saying that the facilities are inadequate.

The union representing the Guardia Civíl, the Asociación Unificada de Guardias Civiles (AUGC) has requested the closure of the pavilion "for its alarming lack of security and the lack of civil guards to provide protection." The union will officially request "the immediate closure of the so-called temporary center for immigrants in quarantine, which is actually an improvised sports hall.”

They complain that the facility has inadequate security, say that their own resources are already stretched and they cannot maintain a constant guard over the installations; this should be done by the Policia Nacional which has competence for irregular migrants.

Only 8 of the 17 escapees were recaptured.

Regional government engaged in a battle with the national government

Although competence for irregular migrants lies with the national government, the latter has recently issued a protocol insisting that the regional governments themselves provide accommodation in which migrants can be quarantined.

This has caused significant offense within the regional governments affected, including Murcia which has sent a formal letter of complaint to the Minister for Inclusion, Social security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, complaining that the new measure was imposed without prior consultation with the affected regions and without providing practical means with which to fulfil this obligation.

Murcia has been forced to PCR test more than 500 migrants since July, 38 of whom have been treated in hospital after testing positive, and a further 180 have been put up in various locations for 14 days in quarantine.

The regional Government had requested that military installations be supplied for this purpose, but this request was denied.

Ombudsman investigating the government ruling

The Ombudsman has been asked by the affected regional governments to examine the situation, following complaints from Andalucía and the Canary Islands.

Andalucía, The Canary and Balearic Islands, the Comunidad Valenciana and Murcia are all equally unhappy about the situation and question the legality of the recent order from the national Government compelling them to care for, and quarantine, Covid-positive and possible positive migrants, at their own expense.

Spanish Interior Minister travels to Algeria to discuss the situation with his Algerian counterpart

This week Spanish Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, travelled to Algeria to meet with the Algerian president, interior and exterior ministers and other officials.

The official reason given for the journey was to “strengthen co-operation between the two countries in the management of migratory flows and the fight against terrorism and organized crime, as well as in collaboration in areas such as civil protection, police training or security.”

In the area of migration, Grande-Marlaska highlighted the "good co-operation in the fight against irregular immigration and against human trafficking networks" between Spain and Algeria.

"We share the same challenges and also concern for the human dimension of the migratory phenomenon. We are convinced that to properly manage migratory flows in the Mediterranean it is necessary to adopt preventive measures", the Spanish minister pointed out.

Both countries maintain a “fluid relationship” in their fight against irregular immigration. Algeria deals not only with the emigration of its nationals, but it is also a transit country for thousands of migrants of sub-Saharan origin who later move to Morocco. "Algeria suffers from this problem and is seeking significant financial and human potential to combat this phenomenon," said its Interior Minister, Kamel Beldjoud.

So far this year, 10,077 people have arrived irregularly on the Spanish coastline, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior, and approximately a quarter are Algerians. Although the number of migrants arriving in Spain has fallen by 35% compared to 2019, the percentage of Algerians has been increasing steadily since last year.

Street protests and general dissatisfaction with the Algerian regime, along with “restrictions on mobility, the liquidity crisis and the lack of opportunities have been added to the old evils,”says a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime think tank in an interview this week.

"Added to this are the violations of freedoms, judicial harassment against activists and citizens and the authoritarianism of a regime which is dying, but is reluctant to embrace any idea of democratic change". Furthermore, the social crisis is compounded by the prolonged economic deterioration derived from the collapse of oil prices, in a country extremely dependent on hydrocarbons, and the marked youth unemployment.

This dependence on hydrocarbons is part of the reason for the cordial relations between Spain and Algeria, due to the dependence of Spain on Algerian gas. Up until the last few months 50% of Spain’s gas reached the country via direct pipelines between the two countries; this dependence however, is gradually lessening as Spain widens its portfolio of providers.

The rise in organised crime is also contributing to an increased interest in young Algerians crossing to Spain, with organised criminal gangs running over boatloads in high-speed boats rather than the method traditionally used by Algerians, which was the purchase of a boat amongst friends and a less organised structure.

Whether the gentle diplomatic nudge given this week will help to alleviate the number of arrivals here in Murcia, remains to be seen.

Thank you for your continued support! Have a good week and stay safe!

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