Laurence Dollimore
SALVADOR Illa’s recommendation that cities with a COVID-19 incidence rate of 500 or above be shut down may have implications for Malaga province.
The health minister told a press conference today that lockdown measures should be brought in to areas where there are 500 or more cases of coronavirus per 100,000 inhabitants.
He also advised that the entire Madrid capital be closed off, in direct contrast to the more surgical shut down opted for by regional leader Isabel Ayuso.
But if Andalucia was to follow Illa’s recommendations, what would that mean for Malaga?
There are currently five municipalities registering an incidence rate of more than 500.
These are Guaro, with 2,964, Jimera de Libar (1,075), Sayalonga (832.8), Sierra de Yeguas (687.4) and Serrato (628.9).
While these are mostly very small municipalities, larger parts of the province are close to the 500 mark.
Marbella has an incidence rate of 374.5 while Coin and Monda have rates of 352.2 and 385.5 respectively.
Meanwhile Ronda has an average of 327.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants while in Vilaneuva de la Concepcion it is as high as 394 and in Genalgaucil 487.8.
However other expat hotspots along the Costa del Sol are currently registering lower incidence rates (Estepona 212.3, Manilva 186.8, Mijas 192.2, Benalmadena 199.6, Torremolinos 201 and Malaga city 146.5).
The Junta has not yet responded to Illa’s advice although it has said it would be open to ‘surgical lockdowns’ in the past, ‘if the figures justified it’.
