Viewpoint: Mallorca playing it safe

The Balearic government is determined not to lift the curfew next month

COVID restrictions | M.S.

Humphrey CarterPalma21/04/2021 10:37

THE Balearic government, understandably, has a similar concern to that of Boris Johnson. What Palma does not want is hoards of local residents travelling to low vaccination destinations to avoid fresh cases and new variants being brought back to the island.

However, where as in the case of the UK, with the vaccination percentage being so high, one of the highest in the world, and rumours of masks no longer being required outdoors from the middle of June, the floor in the Balearics is that the vaccination levels are still very low and the roll out is extremely sluggish and confusing.

As of yesterday, fewer than six percent of the population in Mallorca had been given their first jab.

So, as far as the Balearic government is concerned, protection is now going to be paramount once the state of alarm is lifted on May 9 and autonomous regions still unsure what their legal powers will be with regards to enforcing continued restrictions - such as the curfew which the Balearic government is determined not to lift next month.

What is more, the Balearic Ministry for Education, is urging students not to get together and head off to the mainland for end-of-year holidays.

During last year’s summer window of relative freedom, it was an influx of cases which had generated on the mainland which led to further lockdowns in the Balearics and we don’t want that again.