Valencia wants an extension of the curfew for two weeks. The Consell has applied for this to the regional Supreme Court. The TSJ now prefers to study the application thoroughly.
The Court is of the opinion the health laws, the combination of the 1986 Law of Special Measures in Public Health Matters, the General Health Law of the same year, and the General Law on Freedom of Movement, together provide a sufficient foundation for imposing mobility restrictions even without a state of alert.
Residents of the region have been living with curfews since October 24, 2020. The judges are now imposing three tough conditions on the government to extend the curfew. First, there is “a serious communicable disease that endangers people’s health and lives”. Second, “that disease justifies that this limitation is essential to prevent said transmission of that disease in the absence of other effective means to achieve the same goal”; and, finally, it “sets the vital time for which the restriction must be maintained to prevent the spread of the disease.”
Supreme Court wants evidence
The Supreme Court also stated the Canary Islands Supreme Court acted well in not supporting the measures of the government of that community because they were not adequately motivated. The Supreme Court allows the restriction of fundamental rights, but only when the regions claim them in detail and after all “other less aggressive means” have been exhausted.
This courts also applied this doctrine to the municipality of Montefrío in Granada. The perimeter was not closed, as the Junta de Andalucía had requested due to a high level of contamination, due to a lack of motivation.
The situation in the Valencian Community is very different from that of two weeks ago. Then the Court showed no objection to the Consell’s proposal, as it does now. The government hopes the court will rule and approve an extension of the curfew as soon as possible. With a change. The curfew will then start at 1 am, instead of at midnight as is currently the case.
Low incidence
The Valencia region has the least infections in Spain. The area has been in the ‘low risk’ level for more than two months with a virus incidence that fluctuates between 25 and 50 per 100,000 inhabitants, measured over 14 days. At the beginning of May, the figure was 40 and has now dropped to 29.88.
In the meantime, Thursday recorded 128 new infections. A further 1,000 since last Monday. This increase in infections began to show in recent days: 29.88 cases per 100,000 yesterday, compared to 29.66 on Thursday. The pressure on hospitals continues to decrease. The week started with 159 hospital admissions; the figure dropped to 128 on Friday. Admissions in the ICU decreased from 37 to 33.
According to the Regional Health Department, there are now 1,463 active cases in the Community. This is up from 1,461 at the beginning of the week.
Lowest death rate since August 9 in all Spain
Covering all of Spain, the Ministry of Health reported 19 deaths from Covid, the lowest figure since August 9 last year, when 18 people were recorded as having died from Covid-19. The cumulative incidence in all of Spain is 135.77. Only Andalucia, Aragon, Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Country are still in the high contamination level with more than 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
