The arrival of five pateras (fishing boats) containing 130 migrants over the last few days has caused Oswaldo Betancort, the Mayor of Teguise and Deputy in the Canarian parliament, to demand an “honest assessment” of the situation from the Canarian Government.

Comments by Arrecife’s tourist councillor have raised questions about the Level 3 rules which Lanzarote is currently experiencing, with the closure of the island turning out to be far less strict than it appears at first sight, and mixed messages on what constitutes gatherings.

As the rate of new infections on Lanzarote appears to slow down, there is cautious hope that the worst of the Christmas boom in infections may be over.

As Lanzarote registers its first Covid deaths since September, recent increases in the amount of Covid cases on Lanzarote have increased the number of patients hospitalised by the virus tenfold in the last few weeks.

The Canarian Health Service has vaccinated almost 40,000 people in recent weeks, as the vaccination programme targets the most vulnerable members of society and health workers.

There is now very little doubt that the third wave on Lanzarote is almost entirely due to Christmas parties. The Mayor of Tías, Juan José Cruz, criticised the “irresponsibility” of local families who had been holding parties of 40 or 50 people over the holidays.

Lanzarote is now on Level 3 - the maximum level of the Canarian Government’s three tiers of anti-Covid measures. Yesterday's decision by the Canarian Council of Ministers had been expected and followed the announcement that the island has seen 124 new cases - the highest daily total ever. This figure took Lanzarote to 609 cases overall, another record for the island.

Lanzarote recorded 121 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, by far the largest daily total since the pandemic began. This brings the total of active cases on the island to 521, 58 short of the island’s peak of 579 cases that was reached on the 11th September last year.

To say that UD Lanzarote have had a troubled start to the season would be putting it mildly. Six games into the 2020/21 campaign and the results are: Played six, won one, drawn one, and lost four; which leaves the Rojillos at the foot of the table.

As Lanzarote recorded a record daily total of Covid-19 infections yesterday, Cabildo president María Dolores Corujo warned “the figures are much more worrying than they were in summer.”

The director of health services on Lanzarote has said that Lanzarote is now experiencing the “third wave” of the coronavirus and that if it behaves like the second wave “we have three or four weeks to ride it through.

La Graciosa has become the Canary Island with the highest infection rate after a recent outbreak of three cases on the island. The island’s official of population of 734 means that the island has a rate of 408 per 100,000 people.

Second-home owners will now find it easier to eject squatters after a Supreme Court recently redefined the concept of residence to include these properties.

While storm Filomena caused floods on the western Canaries and has brought the heaviest snowfall in years to Madrid, Lanzarote escaped relatively lightly. The island can now relax and enjoy the results of the good soaking that the island has needed for so long.