After putting forward their cases to move to the next phase of national de-escalation earlier in the week, both Madrid and Barcelona have suffered a small setback as requests have been denied for both cities.
Almost half of the country moved to Phase 1 on 11 May but Madrid and Barcelona, two large cities with a high concentration of people, were held back. The decision has been based on epidemiology metrics according to head of the Coordination Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, who said in a press briefing on Friday afternoon, “The evolution of the pandemic is very favorable, the Madrid region started out with many more cases than other regions. […] “But even then, it is still the region with the most daily registered cases, together with Catalonia. The Madrid region must remain for another week in Phase 0, out of prudence.”
Both Madrid and Barcelona will remain in Phase 0 but some restrictions have been eased slightly. Health Minister Salvador Illa, confirmed that “Madrid is in Phase 0, with a few improvements, but in Phase 0.”
Related: Madrid and Barcelona will remain in Phase 0 but some lockdown restrictions will be eased
The decision has been quickly criticised by the head of the region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the Partido Popular (PP), who tweeted, “No technical explanation. We are not the region with the largest percentage of contagions. We are prepared. Our businesses are being ruined and every week we are losing around 18.000 jobs. Madrid has complied.”
El Gobierno no deja a Madrid pasar de fase y seguirá paralizada.
No hay explicación técnica.
No somos la región que más % de contagio tiene.
Estamos preparados.
Se arruinan nuestros comercios y cada semana perdemos entorno a 18.000 empleos.
Madrid ha cumplido.
— Isabel Díaz Ayuso (@IdiazAyuso) May 15, 2020
The government has offered some small relief to businesses in Madrid and Barcelona which allow them to open without appointments. Street cafes still remain closed and social gatherings are still banned in the cities in a move which is being labelled as Phase 0.5.
Although most of Catalonia is now in Phase 1, the metropolitan area of Barcelona remains in Phase 0. However, unlike Madrid, it did not request a complete move to the next phase of the de-escalation but asked that some lockdown restrictions be relaxed which would allow residents to visit museums at 30% capacity and borrow and return books to the local libraries.
Data released on 15 May from the Misitry of Health in Spain showed that Madrid and Catalonia still account for most of the new cases and deaths from Coronavirus in Spain. Madrid had 95 new cases and 30 deaths while Catalonia reported 77 new cases and 59 deaths.
