Spain’s Government assures that after April 26 we will begin going back to ‘normal life’ but in a ‘very controlled’ manner

SPAIN is now working on the de-escalation of the coronavirus outbreak. The spokeswoman for the government, Maria Jesus Montero, assured on Wednesday that residents will be able to go back to “their normal lives” after April 26. However, the return to occupying “streets and squares” will be carried out in a “very controlled manner and with clear instructions” outlined by the Executive.

Speaking to Antena 3, Montero highlighted that returning “to the streets and squares” of Spain will be made under the premise of following strict instructions laid out by technicians, however, they do not want to lay out or anticipate the specific conditions, as Moncloa would like to see “how the pandemic evolves” in the following weeks.

Montero affirmed that the only thing that can be taken for granted is that the State of Alarm and subsequent quarantine will last until April 26.

The reincorporation to our normal routines will be “gradual,” says Montero, but it is still unclear “under what conditions.” Likewise, she maintained that the Executive is carrying out a “very strict” job when it comes to delivering the number of positive cases and deaths, she also defended the use of random testing to find out “what part of the population may have already passed on the disease.”

The random study will last three weeks and it will analyse a minimum of 62,400 people, a total of 30,000 families chosen by the health expert’s recommendations. They will all undergo rapid tests. The main objective is to see how many people have already had the virus and how many are still vulnerable to catching it. All these results could guide the future plan in determining what will happen with quarantine.

Montero has also commented the Health Department will carry out the study in which around 60,000 people from different autonomous communities will participate. This will begin with the nursing homes, people who have attended medical centres and also random sampling.

This study will serve to elucidate which people have already had the disease and whether people have developed a “collective immunity” or “sort of global defence” which according to Montero, allows us to collect “interesting data” on the progression of the disease which will only “advance in the future”.

On the other hand, the Minister has referred to the death count caused by COVID-19 after PP and Vox questioned them on the official figures and their correlation to real figures. They made clear that once a person dies after having been diagnosed with coronavirus it will count within the toll.

However, there are still deceased individuals who have not been diagnosed with this virus and who should be studied “after the acute phase” of the epidemic “to see if the symptoms they had shown” were compatible with the coronavirus.