Murcia Today Weekly Bulletin 8th August

Image 1: Sun rising over the Mar Menor: Los Alcázares

To start with; take particular care this weekend as a generalised heatwave will bring high temperatures to the Murcia Region, with alerts in place for maximums of 37-43 degrees Celsius. Click for full information

It's been a busy week in the news, as the Covid-19 virus continues to multiply in Spain, and although this is the last thing holidaymakers and those of us trying to relax a little after the stress of the last few months want to hear, the pandemic is expanding and intensifying both here in the Murcia Region and across Spain.

The knock-on effects are widespread and considerable and there is no doubt that we are entering a period of recession which will be challenging, and during this week various stories relating to the effects of Covid indicate that there are unsettled times ahead. It is difficult to balance the desire of the expat population for the Covid virus to just go away so we can all carry on enjoying a relaxing life in the sun and the undoubted "negativity" press coverage of the situation brings, against the need for a reality check and to be fully aware of the importance of staying informed as the situation develops ;

Covid Spain

Friday figures concluding the week:

25,840 new cases in Spain this last week.
4507 added to the total in the last 24 hours
1895 new cases diagnosed in the last 24 hours

16 deaths have been reported within the last 7 days, bringing the total up to 28,503.

There are 580 active outbreaks in Spain as of today, accounting for 5,900 diagnosed cases between them. Full info for Friday: Click here

The  majority of the new cases are accounted for by Aragón, Catalonia and Madrid.

Image: Cases by Region to date, second column figures of latest cases on Friday

Fernando Simón, who has consistently been the “face of the Covid crisis” for the Spanish Health Ministry throughout the crisis has consistently denied in the last few days that the current rise in cases is a “second wave”, although the media are increasingly querying this stance and highlighting the significant rise in case numbers. When does a wave become a wave they are asking on a daily basis. The same question is being asked by the regional governments and Simón clashed with the Basque Country Minister of Health, Nekane Murga, on Thursday, when she warned residents of her region that "a new normal is not possible" and that the region was at the start of a second wave following a sharp rise in new cases. Simón maintains that a second wave “requires an uncontrolled community transmission," and that Spain is far from being in this situation.

However, all week the number of cases has continued to rise across Spain, and the graph below says it all.

The 17 regions of Spain continue to implement controls and initiatives, fighting the virus at a regional level as all are keen to avoid the scenario of a national state of emergency being declared again this autumn.

On Thursday Castilla y León confined Aranda de Duero due to high Covid incidence:This is the third area confined in the region as the virus continues to spread at significant levels. Click to read

On Friday Galicia ordered the closure of nocturnal leisure establishments in 9 areas of the A Coruña province.

The Region of Madrid published a new campaign "Protect yourself, protect all of us" by launching a hard-hitting video that aims to educate the population about the importance of wearing a mask, especially targeting the younger members of the population who are principally responsible for many of the 500 outbreaks currently active throughout Spain, showing the transition from “cañas” (beers) to the crematorium.

Flight from Gran Canaria to Madrid forced to land in Malaga when passenger refuses to wear a mask. Police met the plane and arrested the unruly passenger, and the plane resumed its flight to Madrid: This occurred on Thursday. Click to read article

Barcelona using Civic officers and door to door PCR testing to fight Covid: Barcelona has taken the fight against Covid into the streets and is using 230 Civic Patrol officers to enforce the wearing of masks and compliance with Covid regulations and educate as it fights to reduce contagions in sensitive areas. Door to door swab testing is also taking place in the worst-hit districts. Click to read full article

Covid Murcia
The number of cases has increased steadily all week; 33 on Monday, 30 on Tuesday, 65, on Wednesday,71 on Thursday, and 99 on Friday.

This brings the total number of cases diagnosed to date in the region up to 4,553 and takes the total number of active cases up to 947.

Last Friday the region reported 644 cases, which is double the figure reported the previous week on July 24th; 305 active cases, so this week alone the number of cases in the region has increased by 303 cases and by 642 in the last fortnight.

One week further back to July 17th and the region had 107 cases; on the 10th July 79 cases and back to the lowest point in the week Spain abandoned the state of emergency ending June 26th, to 42 cases.

So there's no doubt that the number of cases in the Murcia region is heading back upwards again, following the same trajectory as Spain in general.

This time the authorities are better prepared and have gained important experience in handling the virus, although undoubtedly would have preferred a little respite during the summer months when staff cover is always an issue on the coast due to the increased pressure of summer visitors and the need for staff to take a rest themselves.Some residents have been vocally critical of the difficulties being experienced in securing appointments with their local doctor at the moment, but not all of the consultorios have re-opened following the Covid lockdowns, so resources are thinly spread. It is advisable to use the online booking service of the Murcian Regional Health Service rather than trying to call the health centre for an appointment and registering for the Portal del Paciente for online chat with a doctor.

The health service has adopted a system of telephone exchange between doctor and patient prior to giving an appointment wherever possible to save time and minimise the risk to medical staff. Be patient, if advised to wait for a call, you will be called.

Resources are also being redistributed to cope with the projected rise in new cases.

At the end of June when cases had dropped back significantly, the health authorities had transferred all Covid patients to the Virgen de la Arrixaca in Murcia City and the Santa Lucia hospitals in Cartagena, concentrating specialised staff and resources into these two hospitals. Now, however, with case numbers expanding, Covid wards will be prepared and re-opened in other area hospitals, the first being the Hospital Universitario Rafael Méndez in Lorca, the principal hospital servicing the Área III de Salud, to relieve the pressure on the other hospitals and keep patients within their health area.

The SMS (Murcian Health Service) is attempting to control the specific outbreaks and increase testing and contact tracing to try and "tighten a net" around any positive cases, only confining localised areas rather than using a "blanket lockdown system."

This does mean they are detecting more cases, many of which would not have been detected at the beginning of the pandemic when tester kits were not available, and are detecting the mild or asymptomatic (no symptoms) cases that would not have been detected before, but that doesn´t mean that there are more cases, just that they're being detected more effectively. It is known from antibody testing that around 5% of the population has been infected with Covid already, but many of those cases were mild or asymptomatic, so weren´t detected until the antibody testing programme run by the Carlos III Institute research programme revealed this fact. The challenge now is to try and identify who is infectious and get them contained to prevent the further spread of the virus. Scientists are telling us that this autumn there will be considerably more cases, as it's going to be very difficult to contain the population again due to the economic implications, but they also expect there to be less deaths, as the  authorities are now better informed, understand about ringfencing residencias and the most vulnerable and quarantining those transmitting the virus earlier, as well as coping with the virus from a medical perspective.

This week the regional Government has been keen to send the message out to younger people that they are not immune from infection, transmission and even from death.

Young people are a major contributor to the spread of Covid; 70% of the cases detected are in those aged between 15 and 50, and although they tend to experience milder cases and many cases which are asymptomatic, this doesn´t mean that they’re not highly contagious and capable of transmitting the virus to all their close contacts including elderly family members.

15% of the new cases diagnosed in the region are amongst young people under the age of 18.

This week the number of patients in intensive care has risen from two to eight, and on Thursday when there were only six cases, it was highlighted that 5 of them were under the age of 50; 41,47,31,41, 44 and 83 and there is also a baby in la Aljorra suffering from the virus

Totana; On Wednesday the decision was taken to maintain the "movement restrictions" in Totana. This is now the third week in which the municipality has effectively been confined, although on Friday the fixed access control points were removed and substituted with mobile contols. Although the number of new cases is dropping off this week (there were still 6 new cases on Friday and every day this week), there have been over 200 cases diagnosed in the municipality during the last 14 days, so this is still being treated as a major outbreak. The situation will be reviewed again on Monday when the Covid Monitoring Committee meets again.

In spite of the Covid restrictions Totana agriculturalists donate fresh produce for the needy. Throughout the crisis the agricultural sector has worked closely with the town hall to disinfect the streets using their equipment and provide food parcels for low-income families and those who have lost their jobs through the Covid crisis, and this spirit of solidarity has continued this week with a collection of seasonal fruit for distribution to needy families. Click to read

Mazarrón: By Friday afternoon Mazarrón had 82 active cases, numbers having risen by 2 on Friday. The outbreak in Mazarrón is centred around the Susaña agricultural plant and most of those infected either work at the plant or are close family contacts. Those affected are principally immigrants working in the agricultural processing plant, most of whom live together in the same areas, and in buildings principally occupied by families of the same racial background.
This type of accommodation is generally related to low-income families, from non-native backgrounds and is referred to as “pateras” accommodation as the families are often crammed together into small spaces, the type of close-contact conditions in which Covid thrives.
The council will be working closely with social services to support the families and ensure the message gets through that complying with the quarantine is compulsory.
The Mayor said that in cases such as this communication can be challenging, as many of the affected have yet to learn Spanish, and that the fear of losing their job or income was behind the decision of some workers to continue working even though they knew they had Covid symptoms.
Those who work in this sector are often the most socially disadvantaged and earn the lowest salaries, so for them, the loss of income caused by the need to quarantine or take time off work, was particularly difficult.
Certain apartment buildings or areas in which the cases are concentrated would be confined to ensure that all those affected or potentially affected were quarantined.
Mazarrón has escaped the confinement of Totana simply because the majority of its cases are focused around this one outbreak, although there are others scattered around the municipality. The big difference in the case of Mazarrón is the tourism sector, and at the moment there has been no evidence that the infections have spread to the points of contact which could damage the tourism market for the remainder of the summer season.The council has been decidely belligerent relating to any suggestion that this high number of cases in any way reflects badly on the status of the municipality as a "safe tourist destination", even putting out a press release about the presentation of safety award certificates for its tourist office this week and re-instating its cultural programme which had been cancelled last week. Visible spraying and cleaning has been intensified and a "Punto Covid" installed in order to test all those involved in the outbreak.

Molina de Segura and Puerto Lumbreras may return to phase 1
On Friday the Mayoress of Molina de Segura, Esther Clavero, warned that the municipality may be forced to take drastic measures to halt the further spread of the virus within the municipality and is considering returning Molina de Segura to phase 1 during the second half of August if the number of cases continues to rise.

There are 34 cases in the municipality following a sharp increase in the last few days.
The Mayoress denounced the “irresponsible and unsupportive way" in which some residents are behaving, highlighting one individual who went out to a restaurant when he had been told to stay at home and observe a 14 day quarantine. The restaurant owner realised that the man was ill and physically closed his restaurant to ensure it was deep disinfected before he would serve any other customers, but the incident created considerable unease and anger in the municipality.

A similar warning was issued on Thursday by the Mayoress of Puerto Lumbreras following an outbreak of 9 people in her municipality, related to a family gathering at a restaurant in Lorca. Cases there rose by a further 8 on Friday and both municipalities may soon follow Totana back into phase 1.
 

The figures below are already out of date as they were published on Wednesday evening, but do give a good idea of the spread of the virus in the region, showing the number of new active cases diagnosed within the last 14 days. These won´t be updated until next Wednesday:

Abanilla 4
Águilas 3
Alcantarilla 8
Los Alcázares 3
Alguazas 6
Alhama de Murcia 7
Archena 1
Beniel 6
Blanca 2
Bullas 6
Caravaca de la Cruz 10
Cartagena 27
Cehegín 4
Ceutí 3
Cieza 10
Fuente Álamo 2
Jumilla 2
Lorca 73
Lorquí 2
Mazarrón 75
Molina de Segura 25
Moratalla 1
Mula 6
Murcia 187
Ojós 1
Puerto Lumbreras 5
San Javier 4
San Pedro del Pinatar 3
Santomera 4
Torre Pacheco 16
Las Torres de Cotillas 2
Totana 201
La Unión 2
Villanueva del Río Segura 1
Yecla 11

Alhama de Murcia closes supermarket after worker tests Covid positive: Click to read (On Friday a bar was also closed)

Brother of regional Minister for Health is brutally stabbed by his own son.

This case has caused a considerable amount of media interest this week, the deceased man José Antonio Villegas, the brother of the regional health minister, Manuel Villegas and an expert in Sports Medicine and ex-faculty head of Physiology at the UCAM.

He was found dying at the entry to the apartment block in which he lived in Murcia on Tuesday morning, covered in blood from a series of stab wounds. Hours later his son handed himself in to the police station in Albacete saying he believed that he had killed his father.

He is believed to have suffered a long history of mental illness leading to internal conflict with his parents, blaming them for some of the problems he suffered and in 2016 was denounced by his father following an assault with a baseball bat, although that complaint was later withdrawn as his father pointed out that it was the result of a psychotic outbreak caused by his mental illness.

Recently there had been further confrontation between father and son, involving threats of physical harm and it appears that he set out on the morning of the murder to confront his father at a time he knew he would be walking his dog, a confrontation which concluded with a physical attack and the multiple stabbing of his father with a knife.

It's a desperately sad story and one which has unfolded all week, as the media seek every detail of his condition and history behind the confrontation.

He has been placed under preventative arrest whilst a psychiatric evaluation is undertaken
 

Murcia cut flower sector lost an  estimated 23 million euros to the Covid crisis
The regional Government is seeking aid for the sector from the national Government.
Murcia is the sixth largest producer and exporter in the cut flower and pot plant sector in terms of sales by province, with almost 20 million euros of export sales during 2019.
During the first months of 2020, flower production grew by 4.24 percent and exports by 8.92 percent,  but the sector has suffered severely from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, as sales for Easter, parties and celebrations were suspended, generating serious losses estimated at 23 million euros. Click to read full article
 

Los Alcázares awards diplomas for the “peques” who stayed at home during lockdown:The younger generation faced particular challenges during lockdown and the council is awarding a special diploma in recognition of their great efforts; Click to read the article

Spanish Covid Tracker App. successfully completes trials in La Gomera (Canary Islands) and is ready to launch nationally in September.

As the Covid Pandemic progresses, one of the big challenges facing governments is how to limit the economic harm of mass lockdowns and rapidly identifying Covid positives in order to close a tight protective circle around a positive case and their immediate contacts is seen as being an effective means of limiting the spread of the virus.

Contact tracing is laborious and time-consuming, to say nothing of costly, but the use of mobile applications can greatly reduce the manual labour of contact tracing and rapidly identify a larger number of possible positive cases.

Implementation of a contact tracing system has to be undertaken in line with the creation of compatible Covid testing systems and measures to ensure that those identified as positive comply with the quarantine request; at the moment this is proving difficult, as the economic implications for individuals told to quarantine for 14 days are not always compatible with their personal circumstances and work commitments, hence the ongoing problems of new outbreaks.

But all of these issues will have to be addressed if humanity is going to overcome the virus, as otherwise we will be dragged into a never-ending circle of new cases as the virus has already proven that it has no respect for seasonality, for age or for herd immunity and can re-infect and continue to spread as long as humans continue to have contact with other people; contact, interaction and communication the essence of our humanity.

Here in Spain, the Spanish Government has supported the development of a Covid Radar Tracker app which is now ready to launch nationwide from September 15th onwards following successful trials in the Canary Island of La Gomera.

The app was tested between June 29th and July 31st, a period in which four waves of fictitious outbreaks of COVID-19 were simulated, allowing the developers to test the way that the app responded to the situation and how it worked from a users point of view.

The app. uses Bluetooth to warn users if they have been within two or three meters of an infected person in the fourteen days prior to a new diagnosis and is designed not to replace manual tracers but to create a complementary tool for manual trackers in order to increase the chances of “catching” cases in the early stages.

It does not use geolocation or collect any data from users, but assigns random numbers to the mobile phones of those who voluntarily install it to warn them that they have to contact the health authorities because they have recently been close to an infected individual. In order to maintain anonymity, the individual with whom they have had contact is never identified.

Users gave the app. an 8 out of ten rating for ease of use.

On Monday the director of the Coordination Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, met with representatives of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain as it will be up to each individual regional government to implement the system in its own regional territory and ensure that the contact tracing system is installed within their own regional health service systems.

Each region of Spain runs its own regional health service, so although the national Government can recommend its use, it can´t force a regional Government to implement the service.

Each region will have to provide a code to those choosing to download the app. allowing them to notify the close contacts with whom they have interacted in recent days so that a message can be sent to contact the corresponding health authority for a test.

The regions will also have to provide the phone system and numbers so that participants can contact their local health authority.

The secretary of state estimates that this application will be available nationwide from September 15th.

Some areas of Spain are already implementing schemes to manually contact trace; Castilla La Mancha for example, is manually taking contact details from those using nocturnal leisure venues in order to contact trace them and in Galicia travellers from outside areas with outbreaks are being obliged to supply contact details when entering the region.

Flights and tourism

On Monday the National Institute of Statistics (INE) published the June tourism figures (these are always 2 calendar months behind) which clearly illustrate the extreme challenges facing the tourism sector this summer; the number of foreign tourists entering Spain in June fell by 97.7% compared to June 2019, with only 204,926 tourists entering the country (borders only came down on June 21st for the mainland although the islands had opened a week earlier). Tourist expenditure fell by 98.6%, to 133 million euros.

In June of last year, 8.83 million foreigners made tourism trips to Spain, spending 9.6 billion euros.
The tourism sector had already forecast losses of 40 billion euros for this summer and expects to lose 83 billion euros this year in total.

So the news that the UK, the largest tourism market for Spain and accounting for over 20% of total tourism revenue and visitors was to impose a 14 day quarantine on anyone returning from Spain and the Foreign office would advise against all but essential travel to Spain has gone down like a bucketful of icy cold water in Spain.

The tourism sector reacted with a mixture of incredulity, anger and fear, accusing the British Government of trying to deflect attention from its own performance during the Covid crisis by seeking to blame returning tourists for the worsening situation in the UK, for trying to keep UK holidaymakers in the UK in order to boost its own domestic tourism sector this summer and some even went so far as to say that the UK was reminding Spain just how much money British tourists spend here as the final run-up to Brexit begins with many critical points of negotiation still unresolved.

Murcia is one of the worst-affected regions as it depends so heavily on British tourists with nearly half of all tourists from the UK. It is quite normal for more than 80% of all flights through the airport to be from the UK in any given month, in spite of the best efforts of the regional government to bring in tourists from elsewhere, the British stubbornly remain its most loyal and dependable market.

As feared, a wave of cancellations for flights, hotels, villa rentals, car hire, car parking and excursions followed, posts on social media from those using airlines to enter Spain reporting half empty planes and terminals with more staff than passengers.

It’s only logical that airlines, which are themselves struggling to remain solvent will reduce the number of flights and divert planes to routes which are more likely to fill their seats, so when emails appeared en-masse in the editorial inbox on Tuesday advising that Jet2 had cancelled all flights to Corvera for the remainder of this year, it was not a surprise, although was still a huge disappointment given the distress and inconvenience for readers, many of whom have had multiple flights cancelled already this summer as they play a seemingly never-ending game of musical airlines trying to book seats for themselves or family visits.

Flights are still available into Alicante airport although these routes have also been given a prune.Click here for Consternation as Jet2 cancels flights to Corvera

During the week it became obvious that a similar process is also underway at Easyjet and Ryanair. Dozens of readers have confirmed the receipt of flight cancellation notices and requests to change their bookings as flight schedules are adjusted. Easyjet appears to have gone into its Winter schedule early and Ryanair appears to have no flights on sale at all after mid-October. It is highly advisable to be vigilant if you have flights booked as readers report flights being cancelled at quite short notice in some  cases, and some readers now only have flights one way, so are having to decide whether to change the other flight to Alicante so that a hire car can be picked up and dropped off at the same airport using different flights or whether to cut their losses, lose the money on the remaining ticket and not come at all.

Increasing numbers of readers appear to be driving over, but bear in mind that the two principal entry points from France at the top and bottom of the Pyrenees are currently the areas of Spain with the most rapidly developing outbreaks, and Bilbao is another area of high infection,(ferry route) so perhaps try and avoid stopping over at these points if possible.

As the number of cases increases around the world, increasing numbers of countries are starting to place entry restrictions on travellers, impose quarantine on their own nationals returning from abroad and try to deter nationals from travelling to other countries where there is a risk of contracting covid.

This week several countries increased the restrictions placed on travellers planning to visit Spain:

From 10th August travellers returning to Austria from Spain must undergo a COVID-19 test no later than 72 hours before the flight and present a negative Covid test.

Denmark has included Spain in its list of 'orange' countries to which the Foreign Ministry advises against travelling and Switzerland included Spain in the list of countries from which travellers will have to undergo a ten-day quarantine to enter Swiss territory, although it has excluded those who come from the Canary and Balearic Islands.

The Spanish Government produces a daily update of the restrictions and countries which will not accpet travellers from Spain. Click to read the article for more information and links.

This situation is only compounding the woes of the companies who operate the airports and flights.

Aena seeking 2.5 million in compensation for losses at Corvera airport

The latest monthly air traffic statistics published by airport operator Aena are eye-wateringly bad; June statistics start at the top of the page with a 96.5% loss of traffic at Barajas airport in Madrid and conclude with the International Airport of the Region of Murcia at Corvera which handled just 59 passengers (freight,medical flights, private planes) and is shown as having -100.0% loss of passengers during June.

Most of the figures in-between are in the high nineties, amongst them Alicante airport which also lost 98.1% of its traffic, handling just 28,739 passengers, the winners being the Canary islands which opened up for tourists earlier than the rest of Spain and “only” lost 89% of its passengers.

So it’s little wonder that airport operator Aena is looking anxiously at its financial position and seeking ways in which to compensate for its significant losses during lockdown, having lost 170.7 million euros during the first six months of the year.

Last weekend regional Spanish media La Verdad ran a piece about negotiations currently underway between the regional Government and Aena in its role as concessionary of the regional airport at Corvera, in which the paper reported that Aena was seeking 2.5 million euros in compensation for the losses sustained during the Covid lockdown.

“A financial re-balancing plan” was under discussion in order to support this “key infrastructure”, part of which included the extension of the contract to 25 years and negotiations about the payment per capita for passenger traffic over the level of one million passengers payable to the regional government which now owns the airport. Click to read the full article; Aena seeking 2.5 million in compensation for Corvera airport losses

Amazon logistics base next to Corvera airport closer to opening creating 300 jobs; a rise in demand for E-Commerce is fuelling the expansion of Amazon in Spain, assisted by the Covid crisis. Click to read article

Murcia region preparing ten new campsites for motorhomes
The region has finally woken up to the huge potential of motorhomes and caravans, particularly during the low season and Covid has increased the demand for this style of safe and independent travel.
Camper van hire has boomed this summer, as the fear of being locked down in a hotel has spurred many to travel independently and control their own environment and this market is forecast to be a growth sector for the future.
In response to this the regional tourism board is working on a new decree which will regularize campsites, introducing a new star classification, with the emphasis on improving their accessibility levels, pitches and hygienic services.
The future decree will also introduce one more category for the areas of motorhomes, caravans and campers which will only be able to provide services for this type of vehicles.
Currently, the Region has 18 campsites, with 14,731 places, and applications to open 10 more are currently being processed exclusively for the motorhome sector. Click to read the full article

Other news:

Protective fencing at Bolnuevo erosions completed: Click to read

Fortifications built to protect turtle eggs on la Manga del Mar Menor: Click to read

Ever wondered what happened to that birthday card??????

Los Alcázares postal worker caught throwing letters in the bin: A member of the public spotted the postal delivery employee emptying the contents of her topbox into a bin and called the police: Click to read

Extra vigilance against botellon drinking sessions in Cabo de Palos and La Manga:The situation has been kept under control recently but on Tuesday newly arrived youngsters caused problems for police and there were three botellon parties, one of which ended in scuffles as police attempted to detain 60-70 youngsters drinking alcohol, not wearing masks and not observing social distancing at 4 in the morning: Click to read
 

It only took vandals 24 hours to destroy new fence around Mazarrón skatepark. The council calls for “civismo” from the public: Click to read

Agricultural fire extinguished rapidly in Caravaca de la Cruz.The burning of agricultural waste is prohibited at this time of year precisely for this reason. Click to read

Can crushers for Cartagena promote sustainability and support charity:The canny initiative is a great example of clever publicity which also fulfils a social and environmental róle.
Murcia brewery Estrella Levante is behind a “canny” initiative which is slowly unrolling along the coasts of the region, its branded can compactors achieving not only excellent publicity for the lemon beer (which is actually very good) produced by the brewery, but also encouraging recycling, sustainability and supporting regional charities.
Compactors have already been installed in San Javier, Lo Pagán, Águilas and Mazarrón and on Friday ten new compactors were presented to Cartagena council, the presentation taking place alongside one of the new compactors at calle Punta Elena in Cabo de Palos.
This is the third year developing this initiative which contributes to caring for the environment because "every 10 recycled cans is equivalent to counteracting 6 minutes of emissions from a car, and to the circular economy since it allows these cans to become new containers in the future", said Juan Antonio López, representing the company.
It also works to foment the labour inclusion of people with disabilities, as the charity Aidemar, which works with those suffering from disabilities around the Mar Menor, is responsible for the maintenance of the can compactors. Recycled aluminum is economically revalued and the money raised from the recycling goes to the association, helping to create meaningful physical employment in a self-generating beneficial circle.
The initiative is expected to continue rolling out along the coast of Almería and Alicante in the coming years.
 

Bittersweet delivery of much-needed vehicle for MABS Cancer Foundation. Click to read

Boss of agricultural worker who died from heatstroke faces criminal investigation.The 42 year-old Nicaraguan man was dumped outside a health centre and died shortly afterwards.
All week this news article has continued to run, as police investigated the sequence of events which resulted in an agricultural day worker dying of heatstroke when loading a lorryload of watermelons manually in 40 degrees of heat.
He was literally left unconscious in the doorway of a medical centre by a van which sped off before staff could even speak to anyone. Since then, a string of recriminations have come out as his co-workers attempted to fend off public criticism at the way he was left to die and his former boss tries to elude responsibility in the face of a criminal investigation into his conduct and the way in which agricultural labourers, particularly migrant labourers, are treated.
Tests are now being conducted on the deceased to determine whether he suffered from any pre-existing medical conditions which could have contributed to his heatstroke. Click to read the article
 

Free parking in blue ORA parking areas in Murcia and Cartagena during August. Click for full information

Helicopter brought in to rescue injured walker in Blanca:Rescuers suspect a fracture of the leg or ankle. The incident occurred on Monday and the airlifted to hospital from a difficult point of access half-way up the side of a mountain! Click for info

Firefighting helicopter stolen in Cuenca while pilot was asleep:This is one of two fire-fighting bases in Castilla La Mancha
The Guardia Civíl is investigating the theft of a fire-fighting helicopter from the Prado de los Esquiladores base, in Buenache de la Sierra (Cuenca), Castilla-La-Mancha in the early hours of Friday morning.
The thieves unhooked the "Bambi", the device used to carry water during the process of extinguishing a fire, and flew off with the aircraft loaded with tools.
Incarnation Montes, coordinator of the base, said in an interview with Cadena SER de Cuenca radio that the pilot was sleeping at the base and sounded the alarm when the sound of the helicopter woke him up.
Initially he thought that another helicopter was landing, but when he rushed outside he realised that his own helicopter was being stolen.
The pilot had not switched on the external lighting of the helicopter, so was abviously an accomplished pilot who knew how to operate the craft in night flying conditions .
The helicopter was later found in good condition, in the province of Córdoba.
The BRIF of Prado de los Esquiladores is one of two in Castilla-La Mancha, along with that of La Iglesuela, in Toledo.

Break-outs and further boatloads; irregular migrants continue challenging efforts to contain Covid
The early part of this text was published on Monday and is here as background information and towards the end is a summary of events which occurred as the week developed:

Over 40 of the economic migrants who have reached the Murcian coastline in pateras during the last 10 days have tested positive for Covid and the authorities are struggling to enforce a 14 day quarantine for their travelling companions.
During the last week there have been several break-outs from areas in which the irregular migrants who reached the Murcian coastline just over a week ago are being quarantined as well as further boats arriving, some of them with Covid-positive passengers on board.
Mediterranean nations with sea borders are accustomed to migrants attempting to enter Europe by sea illegally and a great deal of resource is dedicated to patrolling the coastline in search of small boats trying to land undetected and detaining their occupants.
The situation differs considerably between European nations; Italy and Greece have been the subject of significant media coverage over the years in relation to refugees landing on their shores, but in Spain the “pateras” which reach the coast come principally from the African Continent, with Algeria and Morocco the exit points for “economic migrants” seeking work in Europe.
Migrants generally travel to Europe using organised “mafias” or criminal organisations which charge a significant sum for organising the crossing and providing contacts in Europe. “Fixers” help to find jobs and there are known stopping-off points for those travelling up through Europe, many journeys involving the collaboration of friends or contacts who have previously completed the journey themselves.
The “economic migrants” are principally young males, although sometimes they are followed by women and children joining family members established in Europe.
The migrants are generally referred to as being “irregular migrants” or “illegal immigrants” principally because the majority arriving in Spain are from Algeria, Morocco or the sub-Saharan areas, none of which have residency agreements with EU nations. These migrants choose an illegal entry route into Spain and have no legal right to either work or settle here, so these descriptions are not intended to be a racial slur on the individuals concerned or demean them as human beings; they are simply terms used to broadly refer to people who choose to migrate for economic reasons, rather than migrating as refugees and do so through illegal means.
Migrants tend to choose either the shorter crossings or those which make their overland journey shorter; the shorter sea crossings are from Morocco to the various provinces of Andalucía, from Algeria to Andalucía, the Valencia region and the Murcia Region, or the longer routes run from Algeria to the Balearic or Algeria to the Canary Islands.
All those intercepted are brought into Spanish ports, their medical condition assessed and the migrants taken to migrant transit centres(CIE) where they are temporarily held whilst attempts are made to repatriate them to their country of origin; 45 days is the maximum time permitted for this process, after which, if they cannot be repatriated, the Spanish government is obliged to release them onto Spanish soil. On average, only 36% of repatriation cases are successful.
The migrants are not given residency rights and are not allowed to work legally, which means that some are exploited attempting to earn money illegally, and others continue their journey on to other European countries, such as France or Belgium where there are large established communities of migrants.
The onset of the Covid crisis initially halted the flow of migrants, as both Algeria and Morocco closed their own external borders, but whilst this has the effect of limiting the number of migrants from entering via the African Continent, it also prevents the Spanish authorities from repatriating migrants who have successfully reached Spain.
This is because the migrant transit centres which are normally used to house irregular migrants during the 45 day period in which the Spanish Government tries to repatriate them to their country of origin, are temporarily closed. This in turn, is due to the Algerian and Moroccan borders being closed, making the repatriation of these migrants impossible.
Some migrants are entering Spain with Covid
There are believed to be thousands of would-be migrants waiting for their chance to make the journey across into Europe, living in hidden encampments, and these have not escaped the Covid crisis which has engulfed the world, so recently, a number of the migrants reaching Spanish soil are testing Covid positive.
The authorities are concerned to stop the spread of Covid, and as we know that this is a highly contagious virus, all migrants arriving in Spain are tested immediately for Covid. Should one person from a boat test positive, they are hospitalised and the remaining occupants of the boat put into a 14 day quarantine.
At the moment any migrants arriving in boats in which there are no positive cases are released as the Spanish government cannot hold them legally once they have tested negative and been given a medical check-over.
The problem facing the authorities here in Murcia is where to temporarily house such large numbers of migrants and who should be responsible for them; the regional government or the national Government, and this has caused significant argument in the Murcia Region recently following the arrival of 454 migrants in 31 boats on the 27th July.
Originally the migrants were temporarily located in tents within the Escombreras docks of the Port Authority in Cartagena. However, following the escape of 100 of those who were being quarantined due to having been in boats with the 35 migrants who tested positive for Covid, the migrants were split up and re-located in various locations; amongst them the sports pavilion, the pabellón de Cabezo Beaza in Cartagena. 100 more were taken to the Hotel Cenajo in Moratalla which is currently closed to the public.
In the early hours of 1st August 59 of the migrants forced a rear door and escaped from the sports centre. 17 were intercepted during the day.
Meanwhile, some of the Covid positive patients in the Santa Lucía hospital in Cartagena became impatient and attempted to break out, damaging furniture and fixtures. The police attended the call-out and decided not to press any charges.
On Sunday evening eight further migrants managed to break out of the sports pavilion by climbing into the air conditioner conduits. None of them have yet been re-captured.
Obviously the authorities are pre-occupied by this situation, as all of those who escaped have had close contact with Covid-positives and need to complete the 14 day quarantine period before being released to minimise the risk of spreading the virus.
Meanwhile….further boats arrive.
On Friday evening and in the early hours of Saturday morning 53 migrants in 5 boats reached Murcia. Four of the arrivals in the first three boats tested positive for Covid.

During the week:
The Cartagena Port Authority has temporarily authorised the use of a 2,000 square metre area on the south-westerly dock in the Escombreras port area which has been completely fenced in to prevent the escape of migrants, as has occurred recently on several occasions.
The Port Authority has granted the use of the space to the Government Delegation in the region, making them directly responsible for the condition of the installations and their maintenance. The licence is valid until the end of August, “for humanitarian reasons”.
Cruz Roja have dismantled an encampment designed to offer shelter for migrants from a site in the Canary islands and will re-use the equipment in the port area.
There is growing pressure to build a CATE temporary migrant centre in Cartagena, a project which has been planned for the last couple of years but is pending financing. This week it has been reported that the procedures to licence this project are being initiated due to growing pressure from the council and Port Authority to start work on the centre in September, with EU financing to begin with and later from the central government.
This same demand has come from the union representing the Policía Nacional which met with the Government Delegate this week to demand better protection for their members and express their concerns about the situation, “what is the point of keeping our residents confined in their homes if we can´t control the arrival of immigrants, the majority of whom have to be put into quarantine?” they asked, according to a press statement.
The officers are concerned that during the summer police personnel also want to take their holidays, and the re-distribution of officers is always a part of coping with the summer period in order to maintain order in the areas of high tourist activity, but that the additional problems and need for extra resource being caused by the arrival of so many migrants, is overstretching already stretched resources.They also want to see the construction of a CATE, a centre built specifically to handle the temporary transit of migrants in Cartagena which is better equipped to handle the current situation than the use of temporary tents installed in the port and guarantees that their members are PCR tested after contact with the migrants to ensure that covid does not spread rapidly amongst the police force should one of their number become contagious, stretching resources further.
But political pressure is mounting nationwide to resolve the migratory pressure due to the sudden increase in the numbers of migrants and the number arriving Covid-positive on the coasts of Spain.
The topic is attracting a great deal of political and public debate and this week right wing party Vox, which is gaining considerable support across the country, has announced that it will be instructing party members with representation in the town halls of the municipalities which are being affected by the migrant situation right along the coast; in the Canary Islands, Andalucía, Murcia, Comunidad Valenciana and Balearic Islands, to register a motion demanding a “firm and effective response “ to the "avalanche promoted by the mafias that traffic in people and the effect generated by the Government, which puts the health of the Spanish public at risk."
They will also demand that subsidies be stopped to charities, foundations, NGOs or associations that collaborate with human trafficking mafias and do not collaborate with the State Security Forces.
They are also requesting the central government immediately reopen the Centers for the Internment of Foreigners in Spain (CIE), and even expand them, with the aim of retaining all immigrants who arrive in Spain until repatriation to their country of origin.
Although their views are decidedly right wing, they are gaining support nationwide following escapes and public indignation due to an incident in Albacete in which 100 odd migrant agricultural workers being quarantined in the town due to an outbreak (20 of them positive), broke out and protested about the conditions in which they were being kept in the town centre. The situation became very tense, and was widely covered by the media, and although those involved were migrant workers, not illegal migrants, it added fuel to a fire already starting to burn and created huge public indignation as some of those protesting entered bars and restaurants, mingling with residents, many not wearng masks.

A little reported story this week relates to the death of 50 migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands via what is known as the “Atlantic Route”, the most dangerous of the various crossings.
At least 50 migrants are believed to have drowned when two boats capsized on Thursday evening, one near to Dajla, and the other in Nuadibú, Mauritania. Both were en-route to the Canary Islands.
Throughout the week boats have continued to reach the Spanish coast, and within hours of their arrival there is normally an announcement that at least one passenger has tested positive for Covid-19.No further boats have reached Murcia this week.
It’s interesting to note the growing tensions being caused in the UK as migrants who have managed to reach Europe by sea from a number of entry points along the Mediterranean coast, including Greece and Italy as well as Spain, are increasingly using the same tactic as to reach Europe by crossing the channel in small boats. A total of 235 migrants were intercepted crossing the English Channel on Thursday, the Home Office confirmed - a record for a single day, and the British Government has protested to the French, demanding that they take further measures to stop the migrants, leaving France…..
Meanwhile, the police have reported a rise in the number of detentions for offenses related to racist comments online. Criminal prosections for “odio” have increased by 13% in the last year in Murcia and 6.8% nationally.Making racist comments online and inciting racial hatred is a criminal offence; something users of some social media who are extremely vociferous about the topic would do well to remember!
 

Mar Menor:

Firemen the only way to extract the leg of this lady in Santiago de la Ribera
Emergency Services are called to deal with a wide range of incidents in the course of a working week, but this has to be one of the most unusual!
The lady concerned had somehow managed to get her leg stuck between two metal plates in the access zone of the fishing port in the explanada de Barnuevo, in Santiago de la Ribera on Monday evening.
After trying unsuccessfully to extract her leg, she finally called 112 and firemen were sent to deal with the incident, assisted by Policia Local of San Javier.
The offending limb was successfully removed from the hole and no medical assistance was required.

325,000 euros to improve park areas on La Manga del Mar Menor: Co-financed by the EU Regional Development Fund, these projects are part of a long-term deseasonalization plan for La Manga to improve facilities and services. Click to read
 

Reforestation plan to minimize runoff in the Mar Menor:
At the moment the Mar Menor has been holding its own against the algal growth which threatened to overwhelm it earlier this spring, the removal of tons of algae by hand helping to limit its spread, as well as the reduction in the run-off water constantly flowing into the lagoon.

The latest water quality measurements show that the water quality remains safe for bathing and the Mar Menor remains stable.

Oxygen
The oxygen level fell 20% in spring, but has stabilized above 6 mg / l, with a general saturation of 100%, so is perfectly able to support marine life

Salinity
After the steep descent in salinity following the September Gota Fría, which radically altered the balance of the salinity due to the volume of rainwater (sweet water) which ran into the lagoon, the balance of salinity has been gradually improving and is now at 40.6 gr / l. The normal level is 44.

Chlorophyll
This is currently around 2 µg / l - the risk of 'green soup' is from 10 - and the transparency level is almost 4 meters. Lower levels of chlorophyll give better transparency and the level at the moment is almost double that registered at the beginning of June.

Restricting the flow of nutrients into the Mar Menor by reducing the level of agricultural activity and preventing the flow of water into the lagoon via the Rambla del Albujón helps the lagoon to recover its natural balance.

There have been several recent developments in the long-term battle to resolve the issues faced by the lagoon, central to which is the agreement of the Mar Menor Protection Plan which aims to start tackling some of the issues causing the problems from their base level, although this is just one small element of what needs to be done over a prolonged period of time.
One of the first base elements agreed was to prevent the use of chemical agricultural fertilisers within a 1.5 kilometre strip around the lagoon, but although this will go some way to helping the aquifer below the Campo de Cartagena to recover from nitrate pollution, will leave the urbanisations around the lagoon vulnerable to muddy run-offs and erosion.
Nobody wants to see a strip of weed and rubbish-clogged unkempt land around the lagoon, so controlling this area and ensuring that it is re-landscaped to create natural barriers to erosion as well as a visually acceptable landscape and environment is going to be a major job.
One of the tools to be employed is the 'Plan Hidrológico Forestal y de actuaciones de urgencia en la cuenca vertiente del Mar Menor', ( the Forest Hydrological Plan and emergency actions in the watershed of the Mar Menor'), which is basically a plan using forest-hydrology to minimize the effects of water runoff on the Mar Menor itself and the municipalities surrounding it.
Measures included within the plan aim to address soil erosion and desertification, include protection against the risk of floods, the dredging of contaminated sediments, regulation of water flow, planting and maintenance of protective vegetation, and measures against soil deterioration.
The plan aims to recover and plant forest areas, replant vegetation in and alongside ramblas and ramblizos; reforest the margins of livestock routes after demarcation and marking; the promotion of the change of use from agricultural to forestry, which favors the "foothills" and the creation of wetlands and green filters in areas close to the Terrestrial Maritime Public Domain, as well as the construction of hydraulic works to cushion the effects produced during heavy episodes of rain. In October the plan will be submitted to the Department of the Environment for an environmental impact study, after which the necessary planning approvals and licences can be sought.
The plan has an implementation period of 15 years and the proposed actions within it will cost an estimated 392 million euros, money which will be sought from regional, state and European sources, possibly the Feader, Feder, Life, etc. funds, the Murcian Government requesting the collaboration of the national Government to co-finance this project and find the necessary money to bring the plans to fruition.