Murcia Today Weekly Bulletin 31st October

Covid Spain

It's been another sobering week, with events moving at a rapid pace as Spain is overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Although we all knew that there would be an increase in cases as we moved towards the autumn, the speed of the "second wave" has accelerated this week right across Europe; France has been reporting over 40,000 cases a day and has gone into a full lockdown; Belgium has closed all non-essential shops for a month; Germany has closed all bars and restaurants and cancelled all the Christmas markets etc; Portugal has reported its worst ever figures; Italy reported its highest figures ever yesterday; the UK reported 24,000 infections yesterday and nearly 59,000 deaths and will soon join Spain in the "million cases club" with 990,000 positives..... it's been a hard week.

At the moment, EU borders remain open for travel, although internal restrictions are building, and internal borders are closing, which will logically lead to another drastic reduction in flights and travel routes as demand falls. We have the incongruous situation that French nationals in lockdown can get across the French borders to Spain, but are being blocked out of the regions of Spain that they wish to enter due to the closure of regional borders in Spain; some are still getting through but are arriving in destination villages to find that locals have erected barricades to keep them out and are turning them back. All week readers have been emailing asking if they should cancel flights booked for this autumn. Meanwhile the airlines have been busy cancelling the flights themselves to cut costs. It's an impossible situation, but slowly Europe is closing its doors and further restrictions are becoming inevitable.

Here in Spain the Government has declared a national state of alarm/emergency and a nocturnal curfew.

On Sunday Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez held an extraordinary meeting of cabinet and announced his intention to maintain the SoE until June, in order to ensure that the measures would remain in place until the counter-covid measures had brought the infection rate down to 25 cases per 100,000 of population across Spain.

After a week of fierce political battling, Congress agreed to extend the SoE until at least the 9th March, with the possibility of extending it until 9th May should it be deemed necessary, the condition being that the PM himself must report directly to Congress to inform them of the evolution in the pandemic, although he will NOT have to seek an extension every two weeks as was the case in the spring.

This is a tacit acceptance by all political parties that the covid crisis is expected to continue into next year and that restrictions will be necessary until well past the festive season.

The measure was met broadly with resignation and a sense of inevitability given the huge surge in cases recently, although there has been anger in some quarters (see below).

In this second nation-wide state of emergency (technically the third as an SoE was applied for the Madrid Region for a 2 week period), the regional presidents of each of the 17 autonomous regions which make-up Spain have been given the powers to make decisions about the measures required at a regional level; the only pre-requisites of the Prime Minister being that a nocturnal curfew is imposed and gatherings be limited to 6 people.

This system of co-governance is designed to give the regions the legal powers they require to manage their own affairs with the support of the government, which can supply the resources of the Armed Forces should this be requested by the regional governments.

The first priority of the regional governments was to establish the curfews within their own regions and this process began on Monday. The result is a total mismatch around the country, with different curfew times in virtually every region. In most cases the primary considerations were the hostelry sector and the cultural sector. Some regions opted for a 22:00 curfew, but most chose 23:00 or midnight, depending on the level of local resistance from the hostery sector, which argued that thousands of jobs would be lost by an early curfew as diners would choose not to eat out in the evening.

In Murcia, for example, the 23:00 curfew was a half-way house designed to appease the hostelry sector, the regional president urging residents to "eat out early" in support of their local restauranteurs and bar owners, as well as a rapid re-scheduling of cultural events to conclude by 22:00, allowing attendees time to return home before 23:00. Of course, there was also a rapid cancellation of many events within a couple of days.

However, the major challenge for regional governments has been the All Saints and All Souls festivities, traditionally a festivity during which families return to their place of birth to pay their respects to the deceased. It's normal for family members from all over Spain to congregate, and as Monday is also a Bank Holiday in some regions, take a short break around this religious celebration. Families will visit the family burial plot in the cemetery to lay flowers and then return home, or go to a restaurant for a meal together, all of which is totally incompatible with the spread of coronavirus.

The prospect of hundreds of thousands of Spaniards starbursting all over the country, some of whom would inevitably be covid positive and sitting down with family members in an environment which is known to be comfortable and relaxed, so therefore participants don´t wear masks and which account for more than 50% of contagions nationally (and up to 75% in Murcia), terrified the regional governments, who began to apply restrictions on movement early in the week.

It had started with Navarra and La Rioja before the SoE, but on Monday the stampede began with Aragón imposing a perimeter closure of its external borders on Monday, preventing residents from entering and leaving the region for a two week period, rapidly followed by Asturias and then the Basque Country, which went one step further and imposed internal restrictions on movement between municipalities as well.

As the week wore on, all of the regions imposed border confinements except Extremadura and Galicia, which are hemmed in by other regions with border restrictions, and the offshore Balearic and Canary Islands. In most cases the closure of external borders is for a 2 week period, although the Valencia Region opted for one week and Madrid caused maximum political disruption by only opting for closures this weekend and again in December for another festive holiday. In the end the National Government caved in and allowed the Madrid Government to impose shorter periods of restrictions simply because the capital is enclosed on all sides by regions who had already imposed restrictions, so although Madrid families would theoretically be allowed to leave, neighbouring regions wouldn´t allow them in.  The Catalan Government tried to cover all options by enforcing a weekend ban on travel between municipalities and a regional border confinement for the rest of the time.

On Thursday night, however, before the restrictions came into force, traffic police reported a 17% increase in traffic leaving the capital city of Madrid, although roadblocks for curfews in neighbouring regions managed to harvest a good number of fines from those who had failed to make note of curfew times in their destination regions, as they were prevented from entering another region for "non-essential reasons" when exiting the motorways.

Readers have reported that some Madrid families did get through the roadblocks and promptly arrived at holiday homes on the coast regardless of the requests not to travel.

Health authorities said this week "in two weeks we will see the fruits of this weekend's festivities when they arrive in hospital admissions."

Murcia however, decided to further limit movement and on Wednesday evening decided to impose a ban on movement between municipalities as well as closing external borders.This is a massive blow to many businesses struggling to remain solvent after the initial lockdown period, particularly those working in the tourism sector or catering for holiday property owners, as it means that residents must remain in their local municipal area and cannot go to another municipality for lunch, a concert, to shop or visit friends.

Cancellations flooded into hotels, apartment owners and those who let rural accommodation for the weekend, immediately affecting many small business owners, particularly those with bookings for the All Saints weekend. And larger concerns opted for Plan B; damage limitation, and announced their closure until the situation improved. Amongst these is the Balneario de Archena, a spa leisure complex here in Murcia and the largest local employer in the municipality of Archena which announced its closure on Friday. Already struggling with financial difficulties before the covid crisis struck, there is no possibility that a complex this size can continue to pay staff and maintain the installations if virtually nobody can travel to the spa. It's better to reduce costs by closing altogether than trying to fight a foe as overwhelming as covid. Staff will be made redundant temporarily. The complex may not re-open under the same ownership, but this is a massive blow for the local economy either way.

Other initiatives also bowed to the inevitable, an example being the cancellation of the Cartagena Jazz Festival which had defied logic (and some would say common sense to start with) by attempting to stage an event with only 20% capacity in the theatres and finally caved in the day before the festival was due to start, cancelling the event.

The immediate implications for the local expat community are also seriously damaging to local businesses as the topic of whether those who have pre-booked flights to come to holiday homes this autumn rears its head.

Technically, national borders are still open, so planes can land and their passengers disembark in Spain. But, for example, here in Murcia the wording of the BORM specifically restricts movement between the borders of the region and local municipalities to "essential reasons only" and it is highly questionable as to whether "OMG I desperately need a holiday" can be classed as an essential reason for travel and inter-border movement. Logically, holidaymakers heading for their second properties who are NOT legally residents of Spain are NOT travelling to their place of principal residence, which IS a justifiable reason for travel according to the BORM, and if they land in Corvera, must travel through another municipality to reach their second residence (unless they live in the Murcia City municipality which contains the district of Corvera, so El Valle owners for example are within Murcia municipality), in which case, local police have every right to stop them entering another municipality under the current border restrictions. They MAY of course, choose not to stop foreigners on holiday, but as holidaymakers must also stay within their municipality, so those in Torre Pacheco for example on the Mar Menor Resort or La Torre, can´t head down to Los Alcázares to the beach or to eat out and must stay in Torre Pacheco, it's not really going to be much fun for visitors. Added to which is the prospect that a lockdown may once again be imposed at any time should case numbers continue to climb, bringing with it flight cancellations and travel difficulties, as occurred in the spring, some readers finally having to take trains to Madrid to get a flight out of the country, which cost many times the original ticket price, and of course, the Foreign Office continues to advise against travel to Spain (or France) other than for essential reasons. All of which adds up to many disappointed second home owners who were planning to visit this autumn, and many businesses which cater for their needs and will find it very difficult to survive with clients unable to travel to their premises from other municipalities.

This may all change should case numbers improve, but unfortunately, we have to take a reality check; let the figures below speak for themselves. Yesterday, I depressed myself yet further by looking at how long it took for the Region of Murcia to bring its active cases total down from the peak of under 1,000 active cases in the spring to the level of 25 cases per 100,000 which the Government and WHO say is the target for which the virus is deemed under control. Three months. Now we have more than 10 times that number of active cases, over 10,000 in just this region. So how long realistically are we looking at given the fact that the "experts" can´t even see what they consider to be any sign of any levelling off in case numbers at the moment.....

Those travelling back to the UK or other countries, are still free to leave the country (ferries from Bilbao still operating as normal in spite of Basque Country border closures) and those who have Spanish Residency are entitled to travel into Spain as they wish and will have no problems returning home. If you are planning to drive through France, we would strongly recommend consulting the Gov.co.uk site and searching France travel restrictions due to the lockdown there, plus the terrible atrocities which have been committed this week and makes the France situation unpredictable.

Inevitabilities

Now we've got the fun part out of the way (!), we can move onto the inevitabilities and consequences of all this, the first of which is anger.

One of the biggest problems throughout the covid crisis has been social media, as this provides a platform on which any nutter can espouse complete nonsense and enjoy a receptive audience. Denial has been a constant factor in the spread of covid, as in the early days we were almost all guilty of not wishing to believe how dangerous this virus could be, some of those most vocally expounding the theory of doubt being Prime Ministers and Presidents. We may have the odd "Professor of Virology" amongst our readers, but the majority of us can only form opinions based on information provided by "experts" and social media has provided a fertile platform for experts and "experts" alike, with a mindboggling amount of misinformation circulating virtually unchecked.This has resulted in the most extraordinary division of opinion, topics such as "do masks actually do anything to stop the spread of covid", or "is the Swedish model the right one" or " this was started deliberately by our government to control us" bringing readers to virtual blows on some pages, and causing a great deal of emotional harm to some people as well as destroying trust. Now social media is playing a major role in helping "deniers" to organise protests and as occurred last night, what disintegrated into angry riots in Barcelona, Burgos and Santander. The video of a young man kicking in the door of a Decathlon store in order to loot during a riot last night has gone viral this morning, social media spreading a message of repulsion and disgust in some quarters, but as a flaming torch in others.

There is a lot of anger at the moment; some public are turning on the media and blaming them for reporting the facts (blowing it out of all proportion, causing damage to the economy with their negative news) simply because they don´t want to hear what's actually happening or don´t agree with the theories on covid, business sectors are protesting and attacking their governments for imposing measures which damage their businesses in the short-term as governments struggle to find the least damaging way in which to limit the effects on the whole population long-term, the public are angry, becoming intolerant and attacking those with a different opinion (see Row on Madrid Metro; my uncle just died, put your mask on and shut up)  and then the riots last night and in Bilbao on Thursday night show how covid is being used as an excuse by the right wing to cause disturbance and by those who are just angry with life at the moment to wreak their frustration.There is so much confusion above all, so much "information" with most people having only a partial understanding of the true situation and very few of us feeling trust in those who produce it.

The main point that many people forget is that this is a new situation for the world, it's the first worldwide pandemic many of us have experienced and the truth is, we don´t know how to handle it. Our governments are torn between the need to protect the economy and protect lives, the need to maintain public order and the need to be compassionate. It doesn´t help that many of the deaths are amongst the elderly and that the majority of cases create little immediate adverse effect in younger people, so it's easy to be swayed by economic argument and bow to the voices shouting loudest for the economy and the desire to go out for a beer or go on holiday to take priority. But OLD LIVES MATTER TOO.

As those who live here know all too well, the Spanish authorities are intolerant of violence in the streets, so the net result may be a total lockdown in these areas. Castilla y León and the Catalan Government are both struggling with highly active caseloads and climbing numbers of cases and both have already made overtures to the national government about ensuring that the correct mechanisms to impose a full lockdown are in place, so it would not be unrealistic to expect further restrictions to follow should anger continue to deteriorate into violence.

Conversely, our councils are working their socks off to put mechanisms in place to help local residents and businesses in any way possible, and although some of it is undoubtedly political, as every politician is fully aware of the damaging "Blame Game2" that will follow this second wave and doesn´t wish to be found wanting during this period, there is also genuine solidarity and many initiatives are underway to support food banks and schemes to help the community, one example being thousands of volunteers all over Spain, including many young people, who joined in with the annual push to replenish food banks last week.

Economy

There's no doubt that help will be needed for businesses, although how it will all be financed remains another topic for another day (this week the Spanish parliament debated budgets for next year and some of the tax increases our government wishes to impose to help pay for the crisis). In brief, topics this week have included:

300,000 self-employed could be put out of business by the second wave of the pandemic in Spain: Forecasts are constantly being reviewed and revised as the pandemic situation develops, but the latest projection published by the ATA (the national federation of self-employed workers) is that the “second wave” will effectively put around 300,000 (or 10 per cent) of their members out of business. At the same time, another 500,000 salaried jobs are likely to be lost, according to the association. Data published by the federation this week reveal that around 10 per cent of Spain’s 3 million self-employed expect to be going out of business while a third anticipate laying off employees as a result of the second wave. 6.5 per cent (or 210,000) have already ceased activity, among them 4 per cent who have been inactive since March, while 60.7 per cent of those responding to a survey report that although they are still in business they are operating at approximately 50 per cent of normal capacity. Click for full article

355,000 jobs lost as Spanish unemployment rises due to coronavirus: The number of people out of work is reported to have risen by 355,000 (or 10.5 per cent) between 1st July and 30th September to reach 3,722,900, and is now over half a million (or 15.8 per cent) higher than a year ago. This is despite the fact that in theory the “new normality” began in Spain this summer and with the resumption of economic activity as many as 569,000 more people were in work than in the previous quarter: this represents a new record for the creation of employment in Spain, more than doubling the previous best in the third quarter of 2017, but of course it has to be borne in mind that in the second quarter of this year over 1.1 million jobs were lost during the first state of emergency declared in response to Covid.

At the end of the quarter, then, the number of people in employment had leapt back above 19 million (19,176,900) but was still well short of the 19.6 million reached at the end of last year, and since the start of the coronavirus crisis around 800,000 jobs have been lost.Click for full article

Unemployment back up over 40 per cent among young adults in Spain:Spain has the highest rate of unemployment in the EU among under-25s.It is widely suspected that younger adults are largely responsible for the momentum with which the second wave of coronavirus infections has spread in Spain, due to their apparent lack of conscientiousness in maintaining social distancing, and it is interesting to note that it is precisely this age group which is likely to suffer most in terms of the economic consequences. Click to read

Banco Sabadell to lay off 2,000 staff with UK and Spanish branches set to close. Spain’s banks are currently incurring the wrath of many of their customers as they search for ways in which to increase their profitability, traditional avenues having effectively been closed off by the prolonged low interest rates established by the ECB, due to the introduction of new and increased maintenance charges for all account holders except those who meet more and more demanding sets of conditions.

But maintenance charges and fees for transactions carried out at manned cash desks are not the only strategies being pursued, and at an organizational level there has been much talk of possible mergers among the leading banks in order to make the use of infrastructures more efficient.Over the last few weeks there has been a good deal of speculation that Banco Sabadell was on the point of merging with BBVA or Kutxabank, but these rumours have now been scotched with the announcement that the company is avoiding mergers and has decided instead to reduce its payroll by doing away with 2,000 employees. Click to read full article

 Public works spending in Spain down by 54 per cent this year: Click to read

All of which is going to lead to criteria changing in the property sector, the implications of closures on the high street and swing towards home working. Click for full article; Falls in Spanish property prices and rentals could be more significant than originally forecast due to covid

Many people associate the property sector almost exclusively with housing, but in some ways the far-reaching effects of the pandemic are potentially even more dramatic in the field of commercial properties, such as shops, and office space.

With changes in shopping and consumption habits having been accelerated by Covid, more and more retail outlets are closing their doors all over Spain, either going out of business or concentrating on online sales, and in consequence there are simply more commercial premises available than are required.

One of the contributing factors is again the “disappearance” of tourism, especially international tourism (as reflected by the latest figures regarding passenger numbers on international flights at Spanish airports). Without tourist spending many shops could become completely inviable within the next six months. This could be particularly noticeable in cities for example which service the cruise ship sector in which activity has ground to a complete halt and communities in which tourism is a major economic contributor.

Exeltur expects the losses borne by businesses working in the tourism sector to reach 106 Billion euros this year, a situation which will logically lead to the closure of a large number of tourism-orientated businesses, leading to falling demand for premises.

At the same time, of course, the reduced spending power and willingness to venture out into the streets on the part of residents, as well as the restrictions on movement which are now being re-introduced in many parts of the country in response to the second wave of the coronavirus, affect almost all retail establishments. Similarly, the sharp increase in the number of people working from home also has a direct affect: if people are not commuting into work every morning, they are no longer stopping off at a café for their morning toast and coffee, or browsing the shops during their lunch breaks. Demand for office space is logically expected to diminish as a result. Headquarters and more prestigious office spaces are also expected to seek smaller premises or move out of top-end areas into more affordable accommodation in slightly cheaper areas, all contributing to the domino-effect which ultimately concludes with less demand for top-end rental accommodation both domestically and commercially in the top-end areas of the major cities.

The change in shopping habits from high-street sales to online shopping which has been encouraged by the “stay at home” messaging of the coronavirus crisis will also play its part in redefining the commercial needs of the business sector in the near future.

Quick look at Covid figures in Spain this week:

Last Friday the Ministry notified 19,851 new cases, bringing the overall total up to 1,046,132 and bringing the total cases detected last week to 109,572.

This Friday the Ministry notified 25,595 new cases (the highest daily figure yet reported in the pandemic), bringing the overall total up to 1,185,678 and the total of new cases for this week to 139,546.

Last Friday the Ministry notified 231 deaths, bringing the total for last week up to 977 and the total to date to 34,752.

This Friday the Ministry notified 239 deaths, bringing the total for last week up to 1,126 and the total to date to 35,878.

Two weeks ago Spain had an accumulated incidence rate of 280.44 per 100,000; last week this increased to 361.66 and this Friday the rate is now 485.28, a huge increase, given that the target number of cases by which we can say that the virus is under control is 25 per 100,000.

As has been the case right throughout the pandemic there is significant regional variation. These figures are over a 14 day period, so don´t really reflect the sudden rises this week reported by some regions, but do show how dire the situation is nationwide. Every region except Madrid and the Canary Islands increased this week;

Navarra heads up the list of regions with a whopping 1187.53 cases per 100,000 of population, followed by Melilla with 1276.49; Aragón, 1029.87; La Rioja, 745.90; Castilla y León 760.56; Catalonia 699.84; Ceuta 733.69; Basque Country 594.17; Madrid 414.91; Castilla la Mancha 504.51; Murcia 503.51; Extremadura 512.50; Andalucía 444.00; Asturias 400.27; Cantabria 357.61; Galicia 280.53; Valencia Region 231.47; Balearic Islands 212.88; Canary Islands 76.67.

Pressure on hospital system:
As of today there are 18,162 patients in hospital wards (14,539 last Friday) with severe cases of covid across Spain, and 2,296 ( 2,031 last Friday) in intensive care.
The bed occupancy levels have been stealthily rising all week; last Friday this figure was 12.11%, this Friday it is 14.73%.

The national average for ICU beds on Friday is 26.59% in Melilla 64% of ICU beds are occupied by covid patients; in Aragón the figure is 47%, in Ceuta 41%, La Rioja 45%, Castilla y León 37%, Madrid 38% and Navarra 40%.

It must be pointed out that the number of deaths remains relatively low compared to the number of cases when compared to the spring, and we know why; not because the virus is any less virulent but because we are now better at dealing with it as stated many times before.
 

Murcia:

On Friday 16th October the Murcia Region had 27,381 cases. On Friday 23rd October the reported figure was 31,378, and on Friday 30th this figure had risen to 36,601, so this is a rise in the total number of cases of  5,223 in 7 days.

Patients are recovering all the time and being removed from the number of active cases, so by the end of the week, the region had 10,655 active cases and 23,925 recoveries to date.

Hospitalisations:
The number of patients hospitalised at the end of the week is 514, a record high, and has risen from 418 at the end of last week. There are 89 patients in intensive care, 12 more than at the beginning of the week, so although both of these are record highs, the figures are not rising drastically and the regional health service is currently coping.

However, there are obviously concerns that the figures will rise higher and on Friday the regional president made a point of reassuring the public that the region is well prepared for rising case numbers and has contingency plans in place to create extra beds as required. Although some hospitals are already at capacity in their intensive care facilities, areas have already been prepared and beds normally used for post-surgical care are ready to be turned over for covid use should it become necessary. The region has the capacity to create a further 500 beds by opening up an extra floor in the Rosell and will do this should it become necessary.

Fatalities
These have risen from 281 to 315 this week, so there have been 34 deaths this week.

Number of new cases in the last 7 days:
By municipality on Wednesday: Note, the first figure shown is the actual number of cases diagnosed in the last 7 days, the second is the IA rate for the last 7 days (number of cases per 100,000 of population. This is ONLY for the last 7 days, so the actual number of active cases in each municipality is higher than shown here.

Abanilla 48/783 ( This means 48 cases in the last 7 days and an IA rate of 783)
Abarán 44/339
Águilas 45/127
Albudeite 9/655
Alcantarilla 170/404
Aledo 0
Los Alcázares 48/297
Alguazas 52/539
Alhama de Murcia 123/557
Archena 117/606
Beniel 62/547
Blanca 21/321
Bullas 61/529
Calasparra 12/117
Campos del Río 57/2810
Caravaca de la Cruz 154/597
Cartagena 391/182
Cehegín 52/347
Ceutí 81/687
Cieza 165/471
Fortuna 54/534
Fuente Álamo 65/392
Jumilla 109/425
Librilla 27/509
Lorca 190/201
Lorquí 40/560
Mazarrón 44/136
Molina de Segura 315/438
Moratalla 63/803
Mula 52/308
Murcia 1974/435
Ojós 0
Pliego 10/259
Puerto Lumbreras 25/162
Ricote 2/158
San Javier 136/418
San Pedro del Pinatar 71/278
Santomera 65/401
Torre Pacheco 195/546
Las Torres de Cotillas 91/423
Totana 131/409
Ulea 1/114
La Unión 37/182
Villanueva del Río Segura 21/721
Yecla 76/220
Those from other regions diagnosed in Murcia 116
Total 5622 . Acumulated IA rate in the last 7 days: 376. IA rate for the last 14 days 673.
 

We have prepared a lengthy questions and answers document about the border closures in Murcia as there has been a considerable amount of confusion on social media, with many residents having to admit that they don´t actually know which municipality they live in and don´t understand the limitations. Rather than reproduce here, click here if you have any queries about the restrictions in Murcia.

There are additional restrictions in Beniel, Bullas, Ceutí, Cieza, Lorquí, Torre Pacheco, Archena, Abanilla, Fortuna and Totana. Click here to read about the additional restrictions in these specific municipalities.

Police are imposing a large number of controls this week due to the Todos los Santos festivities and additional national police have been drafted in for the occasion. The Government Delegate to the Region of Murcia (the official representative of the Spanish government in Murcia who controls the Guardia Civíl and national police, amongst other responsibilities) announced the deployment of nearly 1,500 Civil Guard and National Police personnel this weekend to collaborate with the perimeter closure of the Region of Murcia and the 45 municipalities decreed by the Regional Government.

Other news Murcia

More than 100,000 flu vaccinations in the first week of the campaign. Click for full article

Residents are reporting difficulties in booking an appointment for a flu vaccination, and by Friday the regional health authority was finally forced to admit that it had temporarily run out of vaccines due to the high demand this year.

In total, 265,000 units have been distributed to the health centers, and the regional Ministry is waiting to for a further 105,000 to be delivered by the national Ministry of Health.

The spokesman admitted last week that there have been some delays in obtaining appointments in some centers. This is a combination of extra high demand early in the season this year, the closure of a number of centres in order to focus resources in specific areas, and the fact that some centres are designated as red centres and are only handling covid-related incidents.
To all of which must be added the additional stress of the covid crisis itself.

The health service advises that there is no need to panic, as the vaccination campaign will continue throughout the months of October, November and part of December, and at the moment there is no sign of the annual flu virus outbreak beginning. More doses are on the way and will be in health centres soon, he said.

Migrants

This week 35 migrants reached the Murcian coastline in small boats (click for this article) but the most important story relating to this topic went largely unreported simply because the 140 people who drowned were migrants.

The British media dedicated significant coverage to the deaths of two young children who were amongst a group of refugees trying to cross the Channel between France and the UK this week, but the deaths of irregular migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean goes virtually unreported most of the time, with drownings and starvation frequent occurrences as thousands seek to enter Europe every year.

At least 140 unauthorized migrants are now known to have died when the boat in which they were attempting to reach Spanish territory sank off the coast of Senegal, the highest death toll recorded in such an incident so far this year (according to the OIM international migration organization).

The boat set sail for the Canary Islands from M’Bour in Senegal on 24th October with around 200 passengers, but after just a few hours a fire broke out on board and it sank near the coastal town of Saint-Louis in the north-east of the country. Only 59 people were rescued alive by official Senegalese and Spanish boats and fishing vessels, and so far at least 20 dead bodies have been recovered.

This year has seen a spectacular increase in the number of African migrants attempting to reach EU territory in the Canaries, and unfortunately this is far from being the first incident of its kind in recent times. Within the last fortnight at least another 50 people lost their lives when another boat on which they were trying to travel from Senegal to the Canaries suffered an engine failure and remained adrift in the Atlantic, according to the security forces of Mauritania.

Details of this tragedy have been reported by survivors who were rescued by Mauritanian coastguards before being taken ashore in Nouadhibou, and it transpires that the boar set out with around 80 people on board. As they drifted at sea they began to die one by one, and by the time they managed to direct the craft towards the coast the survivors numbered only 27.

Reacting to these latest tragedies, Bakary Doumbia, the head of OIM in Senegal, has called for unity in the international community to put an end to people trafficking and to prevent mafias from taking advantage of the “desperate young people” looking for a better life in southern Europe. Mr Doumbia also stressed the importance of introducing legal means of preventing the kind of business which results in the deaths of so many people.

At the same time, the OIM has warned of a “significant” increase in the number of boats embarking on the route from western Africa to the Canaries. In September alone they report that 14 boats set sail carrying a total of 663 people, and it is estimated that so far this year as many as 11,000 have reached the islands.

This total is vastly higher than that of 2,557 in the equivalent period last year, and although it is still some way short of the 32,000 who undertook the voyage in 2006 it is also known that at least 414 migrants and refugees have died before reaching their destination.