In Son Gotleu, Palma, the incidence rate is the highest in the city. | Miquel À. Cañellas

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The Balearic government will need a judge to ratify orders for people to isolate and quarantine if there is not "voluntary" cooperation to abide with these orders.

The health ministry's latest measures, which were made official on Saturday, indicate that people will "preferably" cooperate in a voluntary manner. If this isn't the case, "coercive impositions" may be required. As these may entail a restriction of fundamental rights, "the competent judicial body" will be asked to ratify orders.

Depending on circumstances, quarantine can be between ten and fourteen days. Information about people who must isolate is now available to local police, the Guardia Civil, the National Police and government inspectors, such as those from the education ministry. If someone doesn't abide by an order, there can be fines of between 100 and 3,000 euros, although this upper limit could be higher in certain instances. An example is that of a young person who is positive and skips confinement in order to go to a party.

The ministry has made clear that "if isolation is no longer understood by society to be voluntary and that coercive measures are applied to those people who do not consider that they have the legal duty to isolate, many positive cases will overwhelm health services with a disease that can be very serious - fatal for the most vulnerable - and lead to the application of stricter measures, such as the confinement of entire neighbourhoods, towns or even islands".