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Palma (dpa) - Despite violent protests from restaurateurs, other entrepreneurs and opposition politicians, the corona measures on Mallorca and Ibiza have been drastically tightened.
Since Wednesday, all restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as all fitness studios and large shops that do not cover basic needs, have to remain closed on the Spanish holiday islands.
In addition, private meetings of people who do not live in the same household at home and in public are prohibited.
There is also a kind of “muzzle”: the regional government of the Balearic Islands explicitly recommended keeping silent on public transport in order to reduce the risk of infection.
The Balearic Islands have had the pandemic relatively well under control for a long time.
The first “test vacationers” from Germany were welcomed here at the end of June even before the official reopening of the borders in Spain.
Since mid-December, however, the situation has become more and more worrying.
At times the islands had the highest numbers in all of Spain.
The situation is still "extreme", warned the socialist regional president Francina Armengol this week.
"It's about saving lives."
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According to the Ministry of Health in Madrid, the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was a good 304 on Wednesday. That is almost as high as in the state of Thuringia, which is particularly affected in Germany, and much higher than the average in Spain, where this value is just under 254 lay.
The situation in the hospitals is accordingly precarious.
According to the decree, the tightening of the measures will initially apply until January 30th.
After two weeks, the regional government wants to put them to the test.
The Balearic Minister of Health Patricia Gómez clearly rejected the hope that there could then be another easing.
Two weeks are usually not enough to improve the situation, she warned.
There were still "very difficult weeks ahead," said Gómez.
In the meantime, the situation in Ibiza is even worse than in Mallorca, she stressed.
The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within 14 days is already 763. In Mallorca, this so-called 14-day incidence was last at 624.
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After 674 new infections within 24 hours, the region with just under 1.2 million inhabitants came to a total of 42,580 confirmed infections on Wednesday.
The number of people who died with Covid-19 exceeded the 500 mark (503).
Despite these numbers and a ban on demonstrations because of the high risk of infection, media estimates put 4,000 to 5,000 people on the streets of Mallorca on Tuesday to protest against the tightening of the measures.
It was above all representatives of the catering industry who, with their motto “Si el pueblo no trabaja, tú no cobras” "(If the people don't work, you don't get a salary), issued a warning to Armengol.
«Última Hora» spoke to the desperate rally participant Mercedes Rando.
"I just can't anymore," said the operator of a café in the Mallorca capital Palma.
Her family is living on the last of their savings and will soon have nothing to eat if the dire situation continues, she said.
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Above all on Mallorca and the “Ballermann” party mile, which is particularly popular with Germans, but also on the other Balearic islands of Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera, aid organizations report a drastic increase in unemployment and poverty.
Tourism contributes 35 percent of the regional income.
The regional government caused great resentment not only among restaurateurs.
The "Mallorca-Zeitung" wrote in a comment that the ever new and changing editions are becoming increasingly difficult to understand.
The conservative opposition leader Biel Company said in a radio interview on Wednesday that people were desperate.
The 400 million euro aid plan demanded by his People's Party (PP) is urgently needed.
Otherwise the citizens of the Balearic Islands would “have neither health nor economy”.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210113-99-11760 / 2
Decree in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands
Communication from the regional government to tighten the measures on Mallorca and Ibiza
Figures from the Spanish Ministry of Health
Statements by Rando in Ultima Hora
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Latest figures from the Balearic Islands
Company statements