The Junta de Andalucía, following a proposal from the High-Impact Public Health Alert Council, which met on Saturday morning, has decided to impose a perimeter closure on the eight municipalities of the Campo de Gibraltar East and West health area. The area has an active incidence rate of 316 (cases per 100,000 inhabitants), a high alert level of pressure on ICU services and a growing number of cases linked to the British variant of COVID-19 in Gibraltar.
Specifically, the closure affects the municipalities of Algeciras, La Línea de la Concepción, Los Barrios, Castellar de la Frontera, Jimena de la Frontera, San Martín del Tesorillo, San Roque and Tarifa. This means that it will not be possible to travel between towns except for justified reasons.
The measure will come into force once it has been published in the Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, which is expected in the next few hours, and is due to take effect from midnight tonight.
This was announced by the regional minister for Health and Families, Jesús Aguirre, at the end of the meeting, which also analysed the growing number of cases associated with the British variant of Covid-19 in Gibraltar. Confirmed cases linked to the British variant have risen to a total of seven in Andalucía over the last few hours. Of these cases, three are in the province of Málaga, two in Granada, one in Seville and one in the Campo de Gibraltar area. All of them are progressing well clinically.
The committee, also known as the Committee of Experts, took into account information published by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), according to which infection figures in Gibraltar have risen steadily over the last 14 days, with incidence rates of more than 2,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and more than 800 cases reported in the last two weeks.
The regional minister for Health and Families stated that «the Junta de Andalucía considers it necessary to adopt this type of containment measure in the area, as a precaution, to prevent exponential growth in the coming days that could directly affect pressure on healthcare services».
Aguirre reiterated his call on the Spanish Government «to act decisively and establish greater control over movement to and from Gibraltar», as he did in the letter sent to the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, last Wednesday.
The regional minister also urged caution among the whole population of the Campo de Gibraltar «so that the established measures continue to be followed rigorously».
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