The Canarian Government has, so far, failed to respond to requests from Lanzarote and Fuerteventura to give the two eastern islands special consideration in its crisis reconstruction plan.
Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are far more reliant on tourism than the rest of the islands, and the unemployment rate on the eastern isles has shot up to 55% during the coronavirus crisis – a figure twice as high as that on the Canarian archipelago as a whole. 12% of businesses on the islands have also failed.
However, Canarian President Ángel Victor Torres has so far failed to announce any measures that would address the particular problems faced by the eastern isles. This is despite the fact that the leaders of Lanzarote’s and Fuerteventura’s Cabildos – both colleagues of his in the Canarian Socialist Party – have specifically and repeatedly requested such attention.
Almost 62,000 workers on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura– nearly half of the active working population – are currently unemployed or furloughed on ERTE schemes. Lanzarote has more furloughed workers than unemployed.
The fear is that, with a slow return to tourism, more businesses will contract or fail, and furloughed workers will not be able to be rehired, instead joining the ranks of the unemployed.
The inaction of the Canarian Government is likely to increase complaints of “double insularity” – the idea that not only do the Canary Islands are treated badly because of their distance from mainland Spain, but that the smaller islands are overlooked in favour of the two larger capital islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
Free movement between islands
Free movement between the Canary islands is possible from today. Previously, anyone wishing to leave the island they lived on was obliged to fill in a form justifying their reasons for travel.
Health spokesman Julio Pérez said that temperature checks would be carried out on all travellers within the Canaries, and, said that AEMNA., the airport authority, was planning to install thermographic controls at airports.
Binter will increase its number of inter-island flights from 40 to 62 this Wednesday to deal with increased demand.
Covid-19 death rate in Spain between 1.1% and 1.9%
The random antibody test programme carried out recently in Spain has permitted experts to estimate that between 1.1% and 1.9% of Covid-19 sufferers die of the virus. The first figure is based on official figures of deaths confirmed by positive tests, while the second is based on suspected deaths based on the overall excess death rate in the country.
A similar project in England has resulted in figures of 0.8% (confirmed) and 1. 4% (suspected).
The results confirm that Covid-19 is at least 10 times more lethal than the flu, and may be up to 40 times more deadly.
