THE MAJORITY of Spain's coastal regions are considered 'low' or 'moderate' risk for Covid-19 contagion and will escape heavy restrictions proposed for territories which come under 'high' or 'extreme' risk areas.
Based upon a 'traffic light' system, red or 'extreme' covers Aragón, the Greater Madrid region, La Rioja, Castilla y León, and the Spanish-owned enclave of Ceuta on the northern African coast, directly across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Orange or 'high risk' includes the latter's neighbour Melilla – closer to the Algerian border – Navarra, the Basque Country, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalunya and, for the moment, the Murcia Region.
Whilst only two regions are on green, or 'low risk' – Galicia and Cantabria – at least half the Canary Islands is expected to be moved onto this level in the next few days and will also form part of the European Union's 'green' countries on its 'safe travel' map.
And yellow, meaning 'medium' risk – or third-lowest out of four categories – covers land-locked western Extremadura and also the rest of Spain's coastal regions: The Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Comunidad Valenciana (the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón), southern Andalucía, and northern Asturias.
No 'blanket' national lockdown is expected in the near future, since this was an emergency measure taken when fast action was needed at the beginning of the year, it would not make sense to confine areas with no or hardly any cases just because other zones are badly affected, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has stressed that any form of movement restriction should be a 'last resort' due to the potential long-term harm it could cause to local and national economies and psychologically for residents.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com