Coronavirus: Spanish Health Minister ‘Not Ruling Out’ New Lockdowns where Necessary to Control Outbreaks

THE director of the Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), Fernando Simón, warned last night that, among the measures to deal with the coronavirus, the possibility of imposing new confinements where necessary to control transmission still remain.

At the press conference to assess the evolution of the pandemic, Simón pointed out that confinement is one of the responses that can be given to the increase in infections in a given place, apart from carrying out PCR tests and quarantining the contacts of people who have been infected.

The director reminded everyone at the meeting that an order for a lockdown has to be sanctioned by a judge, and that in the past judges invariably granted the order. He also said that on occasion the court has not granted the request straight away, but, after careful examination of the request and its implications, the order was usually validated.

“Right now, the legal tools that the autonomous communities have could be sufficient. They are managing to control (the transmission of the virus) with the mechanisms they have,” said Simón. He went on to say: “Even so, it does not rule out that at some point it will be necessary to take more drastic measures that affect larger territories or that go beyond the competence of an autonomous community.”

Simón has assured that so far the regional governments “are doing an excellent job” to detect infections early and control the transmission of the coronavirus. “If it is seen that the transmission exceeds the current capacities with the legal tools that the communities have, whatever has to be applied will be applied,” he added.