Live News From Spain As It Happens

SWITZERLAND'S famous 'Toblerone mountain' has been lit up in the colours of the Spanish flag in solidarity with the Mediterranean country through its nationwide battle against the Covid-19 epidemic.

Mount Cervino, famous the world over thanks to its featuring on the triangular boxes and wrappers for Toblerone chocolate, appears at night in red and yellow, and Swiss residents have been tweeting and sharing photos of it with messages of encouragement.

Recently, it has been illuminated in the colours of the flags of the UK, India, the USA, Italy and Japan.

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THE MOMENT we've all been waiting for is starting to look real: When we can finally step outside, pop out for a coffee, buy things we don't need, and see people we miss. But getting everyone to agree on how to do it is not likely to be straightforward.

So far, the government has agreed that the 'winding-down' period will start from Monday, May 4, with 'Phase 0' – each phase being approximately two weeks, but in some cases will be quicker and in others, last much longer, depending upon location and history of Covid-19 contagion.

'Phase 0' will begin with the general public being allowed out once a day for a short period for exercise, and professional sportspeople will be able to restart their training, but only where they can do this individually rather than as teams.

Also, anyone who places food orders from bars and restaurants will be permitted to go and collect them in person.

Larger shops, such as national chains, and other customer-facing businesses not currently considered 'essential services' will be allowed to reopen, but certain time slots each day will be reserved for those of State pension age and above only.

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SPANISH football fans have flooded the internet with messages after award-winning TV reporter Michael Robinson's death from cancer was announced earlier today.

The one-time star player – Robinson was European champion with Liverpool before joining Queen's Park Rangers, and then moving to Osasuna in 1987 – had an instantly-recognisable voice on the small screen and on the radio as Spain's only long-running sports commentator speaking in a second language.

After giving the commentary on a handful of UK Premier League matches on Spain's second channel, La 2, Robinson's big moment came in 1990 with the World Cup in Italy.

He was then 31, and had been living in Spain for three years.

His reporting on the World Cup, via TVE – the Spanish answer to the BBC – was the start of his becoming a household name in his adopted country.

Robinson joined Canal + when it first formed, and presented El Día Después ('The Day After') from its very first episode.

The Millennium saw him joining Cadena SER radio with his own programme, 'The Robinson Report' (El Informe Robinson), which gave him the chance to report on Spain's first-ever World Cup win in 2010 and the country's UEFA Euro 'sandwich', netting the title either side of its FIFA win in South Africa, in 2008 and 2012.

Those listening to the radio at the time of Spain's World Cup win found out, thanks to Michael, exactly what was going through Andrés Iniesta's head as he scored what has now been dubbed 'the goal of his life', the one which clinched the trophy for his country.

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TWO Airbus A380 aircraft have landed in Teruel and are among the 90 or so planes which will remain there until international travel returns to normal, having largely been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Teruel's Caudé airport includes a flying school and is used by light aircraft – mostly privately-owned – and for goods transport, is the cheapest in the country, stores planes not in use, carries out maintenance, testing and parts recycling, but is not authorised for commercial passenger flights.

For this reason, the presence of two Airbus A380 – the largest passenger aircraft in the world – has caused quite a stir.

The first on the planet to have a 'second floor' for seating – the Boeing 747 is also 'two-storey' but the upper deck carries the fuselage – the Airbus A380's first flight was in April 2005 from the Toulouse (south-western France) plant, and its first commercial flight was at the end of October 2007, with Singapore Airlines.

Within a year, it was in operation for long-haul flights run by Qantas Airlines, the Australian national carrier.

Now, two of them – belonging to Air France – are being stored in Teruel until they can resume their usual activity.

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PRINCESS Leonor and her sister, the Infanta Sofía spoke to the health services at the weekend and thanked them for everything they are doing for society – a speech in which Sofía gave a few words of her own in public for the first time ever, albeit on screen and from home.

To mark International Book Day – which is Saint George's Day in England and Sant Jordi's Day in Catalunya, as well as the death dates of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare – the Infanta Sofía was seen reading from Don Quijote as part of the Fine Arts Circle's online challenge.

They spoke of the 'enormous difficulties' Spain is going through and recalled the 'suffering' of those who had lost relatives or friends during the pandemic, whilst thanking 'those who are helping and caring for everyone else in so many ways'.

“You're all important,” said Princess Leonor, 14, on the video recorded in her home, Madrid's Zarzuela Palace, and the Infanta Sofía said, “let's hope all this is over soon.”

The video message was transmitted at 20.00, a time when hundreds of thousands – possibly even millions – of residents across the country go to their windows or out onto their balconies every evening to applaud the health service and other key workers, including delivery drivers, care workers, police, cleaners, refuse collectors and supermarket staff.

The Infanta, who will turn 13 the day after tomorrow (Wednesday, April 29 – happy birthday from all of us, Sofía), said: “You don't have to be a grown-up to realise the enormous difficulties Spain and other countries are going through due to the seriousness of the pandemic.

“Many children have lost grandparents, and other older relatives, and are having a terrible time.”

She gave her thanks to 'all those people who are helping and caring for others in so many ways', and echoed her elder sister: “¨You're all important. Thank you. We're sending you hugs and lots of love.”

The young princesses have been in lockdown longer than the rest of the country – their school shut on March 11, after a pupil was reported to have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

They say they are getting through it 'like millions of other children who have been at home and unable to go to school for more than a month'.

“We're just trying to get on with life the best way possible,” says Princess Leonor, who is directly in line to the throne and will become the first Queen of Spain in centuries upon the death or abdication of her father, Felipe VI.

The girls gave their speeches – which they had prepared themselves in advance – from memory, without reading notes or scripts, and looking straight at the camera, speaking between them for 40 seconds.

They had been receiving homework by email twice weekly until the end of the Easter holidays, but are now following a more intensive programme of study with online lessons from their school and heaps of homework.

Sofía, described as the more tomboyish and extravert of the two sisters, will not get to have a birthday party this year, as she cannot see any of her friends, and is missing her after-school activities such as amateur dramatics and football, which she plays regularly.

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TWO major religious holidays in Spain will have been celebrated behind closed doors this year for the first time in most residents' memories – first Easter, for the Christians, and since Friday, the Holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

And it will be the first Ramadan in Spain where the Muslim community will not be meeting up at their local mosque or cultural centre, and where the mass morning prayer on the final day, Eid ul-Fitr, will not be a huge public gathering.

Firstly, if you're one of the nearly two million Muslims living in Spain, felices fiestas, and if you're one of the 3.7 million in the UK, 64,000 in the Republic of Ireland – or wherever you're based – happy holidays, Ramadan Mubarak, and we hope the lockdown will not mar the celebrations for you.

Secondly, if you are not part of the Islamic community, you'll probably have lots of questions about Ramadan in any year, but are most likely even more curious as to how it will pan out in Spain now nobody is allowed out except for essential errands.

It's harder this year to ask those questions, as no personal contact is allowed outside the home, and chatting in the street is limited to a swift wave or a couple of seconds' pleasantries; but under normal circumstances, Muslims in Spain are more than happy to talk about a culture that's very dear to them and one of their biggest faith events, and will cheerfully and patiently tell you all you wanted to know.

In fact, Madrid's largest Islamic centre of worship, known as the 'M-30 Mosque' (second picture, from Wikimedia Commons) after the city ringroad near it, opens its doors throughout Ramadan to the non-Muslim public so they can stroll in at will and find out more about the festival.

Swift introduction to Ramadan

During the ninth lunar month of the year, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations between sunrise and sunset and, after the latter and before the former, enjoy nightly slap-up meals with the whole family.

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SPAIN'S holiday hotspots may soon be saying willkommen to some of its second-home owners from abroad – and transport minister José Luis Ábalos is in talks with Berlin about the possibility.

It could be that before May is out, German holidaymakers will be allowed to travel to Spain to stay in the villas and apartments they own on its coasts – especially in the Balearic Islands, where they are the largest national community of second-home owners.

This would involve 'procedures of commitment and responsibility' and 'health and safety guarantees', says Ábalos.

“It's an issue we're going to be approaching, given the significant number of Germans who live in, or own property, in Spain,” he explains.

Paving the way for German tourists to return to Spain is among the lockdown relaxation scenarios the government is currently looking into – and the transport ministry will play a key rôle in this, since air and sea travel facilities have reduced to the absolute minimum during the national quarantine and will need to be up and running sufficiently as soon as holidaymakers from abroad are able to return to the country.

Germany is one of the key countries in the process, but will not be the only one – in several northern European nations, the Covid-19 pandemic has not been nearly as bad as elsewhere on the continent.

Even though Germany has certainly felt its effects, its national death toll from the condition is much lower as a percentage of the population – the reasons for which are currently being researched.

The Balearic Islands are keen to find ways to bring northern Europeans back to their coasts, since those living in colder countries above the Pyrénées make up the bulk of the region's tourism industry, which would suffer greatly in late spring and summer if Spanish nationals alone were left to hold it up.

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SPAIN'S government has relaxed rules on children aged 14 and under being able to go out accompanied by a parent or guardian – in response to widespread criticism, the requirement for the trip to be for 'essential purchases or errands' has now been lifted.

Yesterday, health minister Salvador Illa said children and young teenagers would be allowed, after April 26, to go to the supermarket, pharmacy, or on other necessary outings with one adult whom they lived with, but his own MPs, as well as the opposition and the general public, complained.

They said kids should be allowed to go out for a short walk every day, even if no errand is made, because it is beneficial to their physical and mental wellbeing.

Up to now, the only children who have left the four walls of their own homes have been those of single parents, or who have a parent at work in a key occupation, such as the health service, since it would have been illegal to leave them at home alone if there was no adult on the premises.

Whilst adults have at least been able to make essential trips to the supermarket or to pick up prescriptions, children have not even been able to do this.

Paediatric psychologists have warned that behavioural and mental health problems are starting to set in among kids suffering 'cabin fever' – even more so when they have existing issues, such as ADD, ADHD, Tourette's, or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

It has now been agreed that children aged 14 and under can go out for a brief period once a day with an adult from their household.

Illa says: “Going for a walk means going for a walk; it does not have to be a walk to a specific shop or other establishment.”

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PANICKED residents in a Galicia town called the Guardia Civil after seeing two fully-grown wolves strolling down their street – the latest rarely-spotted wild animals to reclaim the streets now humans have vacated them.

Officers went out to the small hamlet of O Val de Lourenzá (Lugo province), where they got close enough to see the wolves without frightening them or placing themselves at risk.

They confirmed the wolves are two males, and that the same ones have been seen several times recently, pottering about in the eastern area of the A Mariña district between the villages of Trabada, Barreiros, Ribadeo and O Val de Lourenzá.

Authorities say they are attempting to locate them so they can coax them back into the wild, but do not believe they pose a threat to the public as long as humans and pets stay indoors.

They recommend 'precaution' if anyone comes across them on the street, since 'they are wild animals', and may be unpredictable.

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SURGICAL masks on sale in Spain now carry a maximum price – 96 cents each, according to health minister Salvador Illa.

Following a meeting with the Interministerial Commission on Medication Prices, which includes Illa's counterparts in treasury, industry, trade and tourism, economy and businesses, and representatives from regional governments, it was announced that a price cap would be placed on masks for sale to the general public and that this would be kept to under a euro.

Any higher, and protecting oneself and others against the SARS-CoV-2 virus could become a matter of who can afford to and who cannot, with an unfair divide placing those on the lowest income at greater risk than those who are earning a living wage.

“The aim [of a price cap] is so that there's no abuse,” says Illa, referring to how, at the beginning of the lockdown, with masks extremely difficult to get hold of, unscrupulous traders who had been bulk-buying them were selling even disposable paper ones at inflated prices.

Non-disposable masks were typically selling online for at least €40 and, at times, even as high as €1,000, as greedy dealers attempted to cash in on the public's desire to keep themselves safe.

Illa said the 96-cent maximum price 'may be revised' according to 'how the market evolves', given that said market is, at present, 'in a convulsive situation' – if supply increases dramatically and keeps pace with demand, it is likely the top price could be set even lower.

The government is set to regulate prices for 'hygiene masks', too – the type worn by, for example, children who have a cold when there is a new baby or an elderly person in the house, but which do not provide the same protection as a surgical mask.

At present, it is recommended that surgical masks, unless they become widely available, be left for health workers, care staff, police, and anyone who lives with someone who is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

'Hygiene masks' provide basic protection for the general public.

Surgical masks are of a protection factor of at least FFP2 – but DIY masks, the type bought for using electrical tools that create large amounts of dust and which are typically used on building sites as well as for home repairs, are FFP1, which is currently thought to be suitable for anyone out in public and not on the front line of the health service.

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PROLIFIC pop and R&B artist Kelly Clarkson has teamed up with Auryn's lead singer Blas Cantó in a multi-lingual version of the former's new single, I Dare You.

Clarkson, 37 – best known for her hit What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger, and for her 2003 number The Trouble With Love Is, which was used on the soundtrack to cult British comedy film Love, Actually – released her latest record just four days ago, on Thursday.

As well as the original in English, she has recorded duets in five different languages with native artists.

In addition to the Spanish-English version, the other four feature English with French, German, Arabic and Hebrew.

Blas Cantó, 28 – born in Ricote, Murcia, but who grew up in the nearby town of Molina de Segura – was due to represent Spain at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, but will now have to wait until May 2021 as the show has been called off due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

He became one of the vocalists for the five-part boy-band Auryn in 2010, whose members are all Spanish and based in Spain but whose records were almost entirely in English – including the iconic 2013 hit Heartbreaker, which dominated the radio chart shows for months.

In addition to Cantó, artists on the different versions of I Dare You are France's Isabelle Geffroy – better known by her stage name Zaz and for her eponymous 2010 album; Moroccan Faouzia, who has lived in the Québéc town of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Canada, since she was five, and will be duetting in Arabic; German electro-pop duo Glasperlenspiel, made up of Carolin Niemczyk and Daniel Grunenberg; and 42-year-old pop-soul singer and actress Maya Bouskilla, from Israel, who will sing it in Hebrew.

“Now available – Te Reto a Amar ['I Dare You to Love'], my new song with Kelly Clarkson,” Blas Cantó wrote on Twitter.

“And you – who do you dare to love?” - In the sense of 'issuing a dare' to someone and 'challenging them to love'.

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FASCINATING footage of what our planet looks like when the human race stays indoors and most industry and mechanical transport shuts down has been going viral in the last few weeks – after all, it's not something we expect to see too often in a lifetime, and it's hard for anyone not living right on top of these phenomena to witness it in person.

From Venice's boat-free canals turning clear and blue with fish and swans moving in, to animals reclaiming the streets, to pictures of bright-blue or star-studded skies above once-polluted cities – and even of mountain ranges beyond them usually invisible – what we've been viewing through other people's photos and videos is a stark reminder of the negative impact our species has on the Earth.

Climate change and safeguarding our environment were right at the peak of 'trending topic' lists until the Coronavirus pandemic struck, but will be back as soon as the Covid-19 outbreak has passed – and in many ways, it has not entirely left us. As an example, Mercadona supermarkets have reassured customers that the plastic gloves they are required to bin at the door upon leaving (to stop thoughtless persons dumping them on the street) will all be recycled as soon as they have gone through stringent, health-authority-approved disinfecting.

Taking out the rubbish is a 'permitted' and 'justifiable' reason to leave your house during lockdown, since it's a matter of health and hygiene, although taking out the recycling is discouraged until absolutely necessary, unless the plastic and paper banks are in the same place as the waste bins. Not too discouraged, though, because otherwise, the temptation would be for everyone to put their plastic, paper, cardboard, tins, cans, and glass bottles in the 'main' bins, returning to the problem we had years ago of landfill sites building up, plastic blowing into the sea whilst more is manufactured from scratch to meet our needs, and trees chopped down to make paper instead of mashing up what we put in the 'blue bins'.

Unlike in some other European countries, such as the UK, where all recyclable waste of any material is placed in the same bin and the rest goes into the rubbish, Spain is among those nations where we need to 'sort' our own recycling and place them in separate, coloured banks. Also, unlike the UK, practically all plastic can and should be recycled – in Britain, soft plastics such as wrappings and packaging found on almost every type of consumer product go into landfill, which is clearly unsustainable and bad news for the planet.

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ANIMAL care is included among the 'exceptions' for which people in Spain are allowed to leave their homes – which also covers feeding and attending to feral cat colonies, since these are regarded under national law as 'domestic pets'. Most local councils, animal shelters, or both, now run schemes for volunteers to feed the ferals – and also 'trap-neuter-return' programmes for sterilising street cats – and are now issuing cards to them so they can show the police they are authorised to be out for reasons other than shopping or medical issues.

In towns where alley-cat care is 'organised', the animals are 'coaxed' into a specific area used as a permanent feeding station, with shelter, outside space, and well-fenced in to keep them off the busy roads.

But in towns which do not yet have such facilities in place, cat colonies are now finding the world is their oyster – sadly for them, not in the fishy sense – and they are now able to stroll around at ease where cars and people used to be.

Anecdotal evidence has shown that wildlife is becoming more of a presence in urban areas now that humans and vehicles are mostly absent – and in many areas, residents have noticed there are more birds around than usual.

Whilst in the UK, people who like to encourage and care for the birds can buy properly-tailored food for them from almost every supermarket – dried meal-worms and grains tailored to the specific needs of 'garden birds' – this is not the case in Spain, and ornithologists have urged the public not to feed them.

Environmental charity SEO/BirdLife says food left out for the birds by the general public is 'rarely nutritionally appropriate' for them, and if they fill up on the usual dried bread, crisps and other offerings, they will then not eat food which is more suitable for them, suffering poor health as a consequence.

SEO/BirdLife says nature, in spring, provides what birds need, and assures caring residents that they will be fine.

Some cities even fit pigeon-food dispensers in places where their droppings would not cause a mess – Barcelona is one of these, and has also, at times when the pigeon population is multiplying out of control, been lacing these meal supplies with contraceptives that are harmless to the birds' health but prevent them from constantly reproducing.

Cats and birds – although the two normally don't mix – are not, however, the only species which have been appearing in areas where humans are normally the dominant species, according to both official reports and video and photographic footage by members of the public.

Wild boar

A mountain species mainly, wild boar often head down to terra firma during times of drought when vegetation at their habitual altitude is sparse and they are short of food – this means they not only cause havoc to farm crops, but also private gardens, since they are frequently seen on mountain urbanisations. An even greater concern is when they stray into the roads – given their typically-rural habitat, the highways they wander onto are usually unlit, and a car colliding with a wild boar can cause serious injury, or worse, to drivers and passengers, as well as the animals.

Lately, wild boar culling has started to attract rejection from the public, especially younger generations of adults, and some rural authorities are taking to maintaining vegetation on uninhabited mountains and lacing food with contraceptives to keep the population under control and ensure they have no need to go beyond their natural stamping ground to survive.

Despite their wanderlust in search of sustenance, finding one strolling down a city-centre street is somewhat unusual.

As well as several having been seen in Madrid's northern suburb of Las Tablas and in satellite towns north of the metropolitan area like Las Rozas, Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes, one was spotted recently in the Rodríguez Sahagún Park between the Pilar and Tetuán neighbourhoods.

One Twitter user even filmed a wild boar wandering along a main road right in the heart of Madrid city, completely untroubled by cars.

Another was filmed by a Twitter user strolling down the middle of the C/ Balmes in the very centre of Barcelona – a street which is a dual carriageway and is normally chock-full with cars at every hour of the day

and night.

Several have been spotted in the grounds of Madrid's Complutense University, too.

Goats

The sight of farmers herding their goats across the fields – sometimes, on country lanes, forcing cars to slow down and wait for them to pass – is quite common in rural Spain, even close to built-up coastal areas. Goat's milk and cheese is a staple in most supermarkets, and the latter frequently found on salads and pizzas in restaurants, and even pizzas in the deep-freeze at your local store.

It is less common to see them loitering around town squares, though. Photos of a herd of goats ambling unsupervised along the high street in Llandudno, Wales hit UK national headlines on March 31, but Spain had already bought the T-shirt: Nearly two weeks earlier, on March 19, residents in the town of Chinchilla, Albacete province – to the west of that of Alicante – flocked to their windows when they saw loose goats pottering about in a central Plaza.

A video by Twitter user Tarabilla02, captioned, “The whole town to themselves,” went immediately viral. (See picture two).

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SEARCHES for property to buy with gardens, balconies or terraces have shot up by 40% since the start of Spain's national lockdown, according to various estate agency portals.

Although house removals are not covered by the rules for leaving home during the national quarantine – only 'necessary' outings, such as visiting supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, buying newspapers and cigarettes, caring for the elderly and the disabled, or medical appointments and filling up at petrol stations are permitted – this does not stop would-be homeowners from searching and, as everyone is in the same boat, most do not feel they have to rush as they are unlikely to lose out to someone else.

And being in lockdown is leaving all except key workers and home workers and those with dependants with more time on their hands, creating more of a desire to plan and plenty of spare moments to dream.

Once quarantine is over, gardens, terraces and balconies may be less urgent as occupants will then be able to go outside again and catch some fresh air and sunshine – but if this situation ever happens again, having a private outdoor space is likely to make it far less of an ordeal.

Residents on urbanisations or in apartment blocks are not allowed to use communal facilities such as swimming pools, gardens or terraces – only exits and entrances – meaning balconies have become hugely important for the latter, and private courtyards, gardens and pools for the former.

Filters on searches for property with outdoor spaces, in general, have been applied 40% more than usual, although homes with gardens appear 128% more often than those with terraces or balconies, according to data from property portals across the board.

Property for sale searches online continue at a healthy rate, perhaps because people living in Spain already are discovering that now they are spending more time in their houses, inconvenient aspects of them that they had not noticed before are starting to become more apparent – for example, a family with children may have become aware that the home they are living in is too small when all of them are in it 24 hours a day.

SAINT George is not just the patron of England – among the other regions and countries where the mythical dragon-slayer is celebrated on April 23 is Catalunya, where he is known as Sant Jordi and his 'day' fills the streets with book and flower stalls.

The former marks International Book Day, which also falls on April 23 as this was the date, in 1616, when Don Quijote author Miguel de Cervantes and British poet and playwright William Shakespeare died.

In practice, Cervantes passed away – aged 69 – 10 days before Shakespeare, who was just 52; although the dates are both recorded as April 23, 1616, England was still using the Julian calendar, whilst Spain had already moved onto the Gregorian calendar, the one used in most of the world today.

Long-standing tradition has it that on Sant Jordi's Day in Catalunya, people would give their partners or spouses a rose.

The two combined eventually, and it is now customary to buy your loved ones a flower and a book on Saint George's Day.

About six million red and yellow roses are sold in just one day in the north-eastern region, and many towns will have open-air flower and book stalls on the street.

The most famous Sant Jordi fair is in Barcelona, where top national and international authors sign their books – Siri Hustvedt and Marian Keyes have been among them in recent years.

Now, though, with Spain in lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the entire country's entire festival calendar has been shifted – and Sant Jordi will be celebrated on July 23 instead.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GUARDIA Civil officers in Oviedo found a newborn foal wandering along a main road in the early hours of the morning, and managed to reunite him with his mum.

He was seen, distressed and disoriented, on the AS-112 regional highway at 03.00 this morning (Tuesday) between Collanzo and Llanos de Aller.

Catching him was not difficult, but finding his mother proved tricky.

Although they could hear her neighing in an agitated manner several fields away, the darkness and the dense undergrowth meant they could not work out where she was or reach her.

Officers found an enclosed paddock with suitable fencing nearby and placed the foal there until daylight, when they returned and began the search.

They worked out the baby had probably fallen from a nearby meadow down the low grass verge onto the carriageway.

Now with improved visibility, they were able to follow the mare's cries and find her, and immediately saw they had got the right horse when the foal hotfooted it to her side and she 'talked' to him.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S national government has authorised some industries to restart their activity, subject to certain restrictions, but the general public is not otherwise allowed to leave the house for anything other than the essential.

For most of the country, this means being able to go back to work today (Easter Monday) if they work in industries permitted to start trading again, although residents in the Comunidad Valenciana, the Balearic Islands, Catalunya, Castilla-La Mancha, Cantabria, Navarra, the Basque Country and La Rioja will not begin again until Tuesday, as today is a bank holiday.

In all other regions, Maundy Thursday (April 9) was a public holiday, and Easter Monday is a normal working day.

As yet, no shops are allowed to open except those already authorised to trade during the State of Alarm – supermarkets and other food stores, those selling the press, pharmacies, banks and other financial services, tobacconists', petrol stations, and for emergencies only, opticians'.

Companies whose staff can work from home are still expected to keep to this structure.

Factories, building sites and other firms in the industrial sector which, until now, have been considered 'non-essential', can start their operations again, provided staff keep a distance of at least one to two metres between them.

This may mean staggered shifts to ensure no more than a specific number of people on the premises at any one time.

Employees with any symptoms matching those which occur with Covid-19 – dry cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing or fever, however mild, and even if they feel otherwise well – must not go to work, and will be considered as signed off sick with the corresponding pay due to them.

The same applies to staff who are otherwise at a higher risk if they contract the condition – pregnant women, anyone over 60, or anyone with a pre-existing health condition or respiratory disorder – and to all those who have been in close contact with family members or other people diagnosed with Covid-19.

Employees should, as far as possible, walk, cycle or drive to work, avoiding public transport as much as possible, although the previously-restricted bus and train services have now been increased to enable those who have no other way of getting to their jobs to reach them.

Three main rules apply: Minimum distances between people, proper hygiene in public and private spaces – such as hand-washing – and wearing masks.

The government has not been able to enforce masks as a condition of going to work, since there are not enough available, but they are 'strongly recommended' and will be handed out between 06.00 and 09.00 tomorrow morning – as they were this morning – on public transport networks in Spain's main cities.

For the rest of the population, the same rules apply: Leaving the house is only permitted for the 'essential', such as visiting shops and other businesses authorised to open, to go to a medical centre or hospital, for looking after the elderly, disabled, children or other dependants, to take out the rubbish or walk the dog, although the latter should be for as short a time as possible and within 250 metres of the owner's place of residence.

No contact between people not living in the same household is allowed, and no home visits except for care duties are permitted.

Only one person is allowed out at any time – parents cannot take their children with them unless they would otherwise be home alone without an adult, which is illegal at all times.

Elderly, sick or disabled people, if they have to go out, can have one companion with them.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOOD collection drives for the underprivileged are still being launched, even though they cannot take place in person or involve actual drop-off points in supermarkets – instead, cash donations are being taken online which will be spent on the usual non-perishables charities stock for those in need.

The Costa del Sol food bank – known as 'Bancosol' – has set up a 'virtual' collection for tomorrow (Good Friday) and Saturday, April 10 and 11 to replace its usual physical drop-offs.

Bancosol hopes to raise €300,000 for those who would have been in need anyway, and for households who are now suffering financially because of traders having to shut down temporarily during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Donors can make payments by sending a text message, if they have a Spanish mobile phone, to the number 38014 with the word ALIMENTOS ('food'), or on Bancosol's Teaming.net site.

They can also donate directly into the food bank's accounts, as the online poster (pictured above) being distributed includes these, complete with EBAN numbers: ES74 2100 2529 3502 1002 2162 (Caixabank), or ES38 2103 0285 7100 3000 2314 (Unicaja).

Customers at either of these banks will not have to pay a transfer fee.

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A WORLD Health Organisation inspection in Spain has concluded that it has acted 'heroically' and that it did, in fact, move humanly quickly after the Coronavirus spread like wildfire within days.

Head of epidemiology and health emergency at the WHO, Canada's Dr Bruce Aylward, headed up the mission to check on Spain's response to the spread of Covid-19 and has assured that measures taken have led to the trend 'moving towards hope'.

“Spain's response has been truly heroic, and the efforts of those on the front line extraordinarily innovative,” Dr Aylward said in a press conference, having spent eight days in the country.

His visit included inspections in medical centres in Madrid and the province of Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha – the first being the worst-hit area in the country, and the second also having some of the highest numbers of cases.

Multiplications of contagions have reduced from two days at the beginning of March to eight days by a week into April, says Dr Aylward.

This means that the time it takes for a person infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to pass it on to multiple other people now averages eight days, whereas, just three weeks ago, this would have happened in a quarter of the time.

Imposing the national lockdown meant the average transmission time went almost immediately from two days to five.

These data 'offer hope' and are 'proof that the epidemic has been halted effectively', confirms the WHO specialist.

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POLICE in some parts of Spain have been given a collective slap on the wrist for booking people who go to supermarkets to buy goods which they do not consider 'of primary necessity'.

The Guardia Civil force for the province of Alicante recently released a list of groceries which 'justify' leaving the house to go to a supermarket – staples such as fish, meat, eggs, milk or their equivalents, sugar or sweeteners, cooking oil, bread, beans and pulses, and fruit and vegetables – and non-edibles such as 'personal hygiene products' and home cleaning items.

Adding other goods the list did not include as 'essentials' when buying 'items of primary necessity' would not be considered a problem, but cases were reported recently of people being reprimanded or fined for going out to buy fizzy drinks and chocolate, or jars of jam.

Interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has stressed that no such lists should exist and has ordered officers to stop making these, and to cease to 'police' people's shopping baskets.

He says not letting people buy whatever they want to from shops which are authorised to remain open to the public would be a 'breach of their rights'.

“Our intention is to tighten up the national quarantine conditions, but not to trample on people's rights,” Grande-Marlaska stated.

The 'rules', which the minister says are 'not authorised', had started to generate concern among the public whose personal views on their 'dietary needs' differed from those on the list – for some, running out of Coca-Cola or jam are serious enough to warrant a trip to a shop, and there is no issue with supply nor any rationing of goods – but the minister's having put a stop to these restrictions mean they can now breathe more easily.

Whilst most trips to shops do, in fact, involve buying something on the unauthorised list – even if it is just a carton of milk – the message that going out to buy anything that is sold by a shop that legally remains open, such as a supermarket, tobacconist or news agency, is permitted, has been reinforced.

This said, the general public is urged to stay indoors as much as possible and avoid going out to buy items they do not really need 'just as an excuse' to leave the house – whilst nobody in authority is allowed to question what people consider, personally, that they really need, common sense and social responsibility are key and not going out unless you have a good reason to do so is paramount.

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RESTAURANTS and bars in Almería city and province are staying in daily contact with their regulars and offering them home deliveries – a strategy that is proving successful and allowing them to stay 'open' during the national lockdown.

Although they cannot trade on their physical premises or allow customers in, eateries and bars continue to cook up a 'dish of the day' and drop it round to punters who phone in or contact them via social media.

David Giménez of Restaurante Entrevinos in Almería says he creates a 'lightweight menu' with dishes made from produce that is 'not too difficult to find' at a time when only supermarkets and other food shops are allowed to open.

They include casseroles, stews, sausages, and steaks, and sometimes, Giménez says, customers will buy the cuts of meat off them directly, raw, so they can cook it themselves at home.

El Rincón de Basi, also in Almería city, says it was already offering home deliveries before national quarantine started, but that now it is attempting to engage more with its clientèle via social media.

This includes creating a competition on Facebook offering a free home-delivered meal to the winner.

Discount vouchers have been created to encourage people to stay with them even while they cannot go there in person – Taberna Nuestra Tierra, an inn based in the city, has launched a series of 'money off' coupons via its campaign #SaveTheBares.

“The idea is that you can buy now, and come in and eat when we're open again,” says manager Moisés Ferrón.

He says it offers regular customers an 'incentive' whilst helping the business retain 'a bit of cashflow' to deal with bills it has to pay that cannot be postponed.

Interest in the scheme has spread to other bars in Almería's historic quarters, along the C/ Jovellanos.

“I'm sure we'll come up with even more ideas, because this one has been very widely accepted,” Ferrón explains.

Also, social scientists have found that the sense of enjoyment and reward when buying in advance is greater than when a person acquires and pays for something in the same move.

For example, ordering goods online or via catalogues, which involves payment upfront, creates a sense of anticipation, and receiving them at a later date activates the same reward system in the brain as when opening a birthday or Christmas present.

Buying something and taking it home in the same act feels less rewarding, studies show, because of factors that include a nagging guilt at spending money, impulse buys that spark regret afterwards, and a sense of having to make a sacrifice to acquire something.

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ATLÉTICO de Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente is so thrilled at his team's performance in knocking Liverpool FC out of the Champions' League that he has named his new dog 'Anfield'.

Llorente, 25, was arguably the hero of the hour – or the 90 minutes – on March 11 when, just before Spain entered into lockdown, Atlético beat the defending champions 3-2, with Llorente himself scoring two of the goals in extra time.

Up until that moment, it looked almost certain to be curtains for Atlético, as the players began to resign themselves to being knocked out of the Champions'.

The Anfield stadium, Liverpool's home ground, is widely considered by national and international teams to be the 'cathedral of world football', and it was here that Atlético qualified for the quarter-finals.

Marcos Llorente and his partner, influencer and law student Patricia Noarbe, are completely animal-mad and adore their dogs – their pugs Lucas and Keidi have recently acquired a baby brother, who has been named 'Anfield' in tribute to the striker's team's success.

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THEY made all sorts of dire predictions 20 years ago about how we'd stop living 'real' lives and our entire existence would become digital. And now that it's (temporarily) happened, it's not purely because technology is so advanced that we can; it's because of a pandemic that leaves us with no other choice.

And thank goodness, really. Imagine if all this had happened in the 1980s or even 1990s – we could make phone calls, which would probably cost a fortune, especially if those we spoke to were in a different district, but we couldn't connect up daily, actually, see each other, read anything that we didn't already have at home on paper, or watch anything that wasn't one of the four analogue TV channels. Everyone who's spent the last few years grumbling about how 'the youth of today' spend their time chatting on social media rather than 'actually talking to each other in person' (not easy unless you live in the same street, at least, not as frequently) is probably eating their words by now; meanwhile, Millennials and Generation Z have adjusted better than anyone, because they're used to their social lives being at least partly online.

Given that we've all had to go 'a bit digital' with the national lockdown, a 'tech' theme for today's article is kind of apt. So we've decided to bring you a round-up of the latest headlines on the technology front in Spain – it's not all Coronavirus-related, don't worry.

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro hits the shelves

Proof that Covid-19 hasn't stopped China doing one of the things it does best, now could be a good time to upgrade your mobile to a latest-generation version – at any other time, shoppers would now be getting ready to queue overnight outside AliExpress and other Xiaomi points of sale to get their hands on a top-of-the-range Mi 10 or Mi 10 Pro, which range in price from €799 to €999, although now, they'll have to reserve theirs online, given that they are set to launch in Spain on April 15, a whole 11 days before lockdown ends. If you don't have a spare grand in your pocket, the Mi 10 Lite comes in at €349 and the Mi TV 4S – with 4K and HDR 10+ - at €549. For the more expensive versions, Xiaomi has upgraded its camera to 108 mega-pixels.

...so does the Realme 6

The more mid-range latest mobile phone sensation, Realme, is planning on landing in Spain earlier – tomorrow (Monday, April 6) in fact. They start at €219 for the Realme 6, with 4GB memory plus 64GB internal memory, or you can double the latter – to 128GB – for €249, and the former as well, to 8GB, for €279.

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COMPANIES are now not allowed to make staff redundant due to 'structural, financial, technical, organisational, production-related reasons or due to force majeur' until after the national quarantine finishes.

This will continue even if the proposed 'release' date has to be extended beyond April 11 – which appears likely at the moment, but has not been confirmed.

Firms are, however, allowed to lay staff off – a temporary measure which will mean they start back on the job as though they had never left as soon as the lockdown is over.

These employees can sign on the dole instantly, even if they have not paid enough 'into the system' to qualify, and any benefit claimed will not count against their existing or future entitlements to jobseekers' funds, which are a contributory payment capped at two years.

Otherwise, those in jobs which cannot be done from home and whose firm has to stop trading during lockdown due to not being part of the description of 'essential services' will be given leave on full pay.

They will then be required to make up the hours later, unless their employer waives this obligation.

Workers and their bosses have until New Year's Eve 2020 to agree how they will 'pay back' the hours lost, which will be stage by stage, but which, in total and combined with their usual schedule, cannot exceed the maximum of 48 hours a week set by the European Union.

“We cannot interpret the extinction of a job contract, redundancy or sacking, as justified when this is due to causes deriving from the Coronavirus outbreak,” says minister for work Yolanda Díaz.

The decree introduced on March 17 – the day after the national lockdown started – made it possible for firms to apply for temporary lay-offs, and this has now been extended to make it more flexible and less paper-intensive in order that force majeur and other related causes 'cannot be used in order to introduce traumatic measures in relation to employment', and that any 'job loss' is temporary only.

Lay-offs will not affect a staff member's length of service – if, for example, the firm makes an employee redundant six months after the quarantine is over, he or she will not just receive a six-month severance pay, but one which takes into account all the previous time spent working for the company.

Yolanda Díaz says the lockdown has, inevitably, had 'a devastating impact' on the job market and workforce, but does not want this to become a long-term or permanent issue – additional measures were needed, she explains, to protect workers and safeguard employment.

Where employees are on a temporary job contract, any time spent laid off will not be counted – for example, a six-month contract signed on January 1 will not automatically end on June 1 if the staff member has been unable to work due to the shutdown during that time, but instead, the period for which quarantine stopped him or her working will be added on after the June 1 expiry date.

In most cases, except where the nature of the job is temporary anyway, a non-fixed contract – typically six months – is signed at the beginning of an employee's working life with the company and then, if both parties are satisfied, is replaced by a permanent one on expiry.

Employers are no longer able to do what a significant number did before the financial crisis years – keep staff on indefinitely via a string of temporary contracts, so they never became 'permanent', enjoyed full employment rights, or the stability of knowing they would not be out the door at a second's notice three or six months later.

Even though the Royal Decree, or Bill of Law - which came into effect this week after its publication in the State Official Bulletin (BOE) – allows for temporary lay-offs, the government has warned it will be keeping a close eye on these to make sure they are, in fact, Coronavirus-related.

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SPAIN'S government is just about to distribute 18.5 million masks to all regional governments in the country – the 15 on the mainland and the four off it, including the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla which border Morocco.

So far, the latter two have not been as badly hit by the virus as the rest of the country – only one death has been reported in each.

In addition to the masks, a total of 16.5 million pairs of surgical gloves are due to be delivered.

Overall, this latest distribution will double the amount of protective gear handed out to the regions since the week before quarantine started, and comes in response to widespread pleas for safety equipment from hospitals, health centres, care homes, police, private security firms now working in supermarkets, and other key workers who are most at risk of contagion.

The safety equipment shortage is a global one – the last pandemic of this extent having been more than 100 years ago, during the outbreak of the so-called Spanish 'Flu just after World War I ended – meaning no government or health authority in Europe, the Americas, and most of Asia and Oceania, has had to meet such a high demand for protective gear.

In Spain, though, 2.2 million sets of masks and gloves have been delivered in just one day.

At this evening's press conference – which will be via video – the government is expected to announce an extension to the lockdown from the original proposed end date of April 11, on the basis that it is 'better to be safe than sorry' and that 'releasing' the public from quarantine too early will undo all the good work that this has helped produce.

Better news is starting to creep through, albeit slowly – whilst registering some of its highest daily death numbers of the crisis this week, the eastern region of the Comunidad Valenciana has just announced that more patients are now completely cured than those who have died.

For this reason, regional health minister Ana Barceló urges everyone to keep plugging away at the confinement.

So far, cases of Coronavirus in Spain have reached almost 118,000, and the death toll is just under 11,000, beaten only by Italy at nearly 14,000, although this is rising in other countries – France is up to 5,400 and the next-highest mortality rate in Europe is in the UK, with 2,921 deaths.

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A CARNIVORE which lived in Madrid around nine million years ago has just been named following joint research between scientists in the capital, in Catalunya and in South Africa.

The Circamustela Peignei is described as a small meat-eating animal which was native to the central part of mainland Spain, or what is now Madrid, and was found in the region's Batallones archaeological dig on the hill of the same name in Torrejón de Velasco.

According to Spain's National Museum of Natural Sciences, fossilised teeth, jaw bones and skull parts enabled the team to identify the creature properly – until now, they had thought it was the remains of an animal described back in 1967 after fossils were found in Can Llobateres, in the Valle del Penedès area of Barcelona province.

But the 'new' carnivore found is said to be 'much more primitive'.

Detailed micro CT scans allowed the team to view the inside of its bones and other parts which were not immediately on view and could not otherwise have been examined without damaging the fossil.

“It's an as-yet unknown species of mustelid,” says Natural Sciences Museum researcher Jorge Morales.

The mustelidae family covers about 55 species of ferrets, otters, badgers, polecats, weasels, martens and the wolverine.

“This one is of a similar size to the beech marten or pine marten, but with slimmer and sharper teeth, their having adapted to a greater consumption of meat than other, similar mustelids that would have lived with it around nine million years ago,” Morales explains.

“These features have allowed us to infer that it was a carnivore with a more 'specialised' diet than modern-day martens, which have a more eclectic, varied diet,” said Alberto Valenciano, who is Spanish but works as a researcher at the Iziko Museum in Cape Town, South Africa.

“Our investigation is very significant, because it completes, and enhances, the knowledge we hitherto had about the diversity of carnivores living in the Batallones area.

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A POP twosome who have been churning out hits on and off for 62 years is raking in the royalties now that one of their catchy '80s numbers has become the national 'Coronavirus quarantine anthem' – but they have donated the whole lot to the Madrid regional health service.

Dúo Dinámico's Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa – aged 83 and 84 respectively – met in their first jobs in an aircraft engine factory in their native Barcelona, and were 21 and 22 when they launched their music career.

At the time – 1958 – the DJ on Radio Barcelona refused to use their original 'band name', The Dynamic Boys, because it was in English, and instead translated it into Spanish as Dúo Dinámico ('Dynamic Duo').

After numerous appearances on the radio, they finally gave up their day jobs in autumn 1959 to record their first studio EP, with four songs, through Odeón Gramophone, now EMI Records.

The pair's national fame mainly started in 1961, when the film Botón de Ancla ('Anchor Button') was released, using their most popular records as its soundtrack – and shot at a time when both young men were on their compulsory military service.

It was they who won Spain the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968, with their catchy number La, la, la.

After retiring from the music scene in 1972 and focusing on record producing – for artists who included Julio Iglesias – they reunited for a one-off concert in 1978, leading to EMI's releasing a 'greatest hits' album in 1980, and finally, in 1986, deciding they had perhaps not yet finished and signing a contract with Sony Music.

Resistiré, which roughly translates as 'I'll get through this' or 'I will survive', was part of their 1987 studio album En Forma, but was released as a hit in 1988.

And they could never have guessed that, 32 years later, this same record would soar to the top end of the charts again – thanks to a pandemic.

Played on TV and radio, in video tutorials teachers create for their stuck-at-home pupils, from balconies, in advertising, and all over social media, its strong, positive wording and fast-paced pop beats have made it the theme tune for the national quarantine, encouraging the nation not to despair.

As a result, royalties have been flooding in for the octogenarian artists – who have not completely retired, but last performed at the Sonorama Festival in Aranda del Duero (Burgos province) in 2016 – but as they made enough money during their successful career to keep them in creature comforts during their old age, Manuel and Ramón have opted to donate the lot to the regional government of Madrid to fund its health service and support residents who are struggling during the shutdown.

Another song that has become famous during quarantine is Pero a tu lado ('But by your side') – a 2017 re-release by Los Secretos of a song penned by late band member Enrique Urquijo, who died in November 1999.

The band, formed in 1980 and one of the most successful of that decade on the scene, is now formed by Santiago Fernández, Juanjo Ramos, Jesús Redondo, Ramón Arroyo, and singer Álvaro Urquijo.

They, too, have just announced their royalties for Enrique's historic anthem will go to the Greater Madrid region for its health service and to help workers and traders facing financial difficulty due to the national shutdown.

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FINDING out that a treasured elderly relative has tested positive for Covid-19 is devastating and heartbreaking, since this is the most vulnerable and at-risk slice of the population – but hope is out there, as two patients at either end of the country have proven.

A woman from the Pyrénéen town of Biescas (Huesca province, Aragón) who is thought to have caught the virus during a family funeral at the beginning of March, has just been discharged after two weeks in hospital – despite her loved ones having been preparing for the worst.

After all, at the age of 101, they did not expect her to recover.

She has now tested negative and is fully fit again after her fortnight at Huesca city's San Jorge hospital, and is back home in Biescas – where she was the first resident to catch the virus, and where she lives with her daughter.

Her recovery has 'given a great deal of hope and encouragement' to her family to 'keep on fighting', says Biescas' mayoress Nuria Pargada, who says all the relatives, friends and neighbours who were frightened they were going to lose her are 'deeply grateful' to all the healthcare staff and everyone else who supported them through their traumatic ordeal.

Biescas has ended up with over 30 cases of Coronavirus, of whom 20 or so are in Huesca's San Jorge hospital.

Three more, all regulars at the pensioners' drop-in centre, have died, and the town hall declared yesterday (Monday, March 30) as an official day of mourning.

Over 900 kilometres, or nine hours by car, away from the 101-year-old survivor, Granada-born Antonio Magdaleno Martínez, 98, has just spent a fortnight at Sevilla's Virgen del Rocío hospital being treated for Covid-19.

Given his advanced age, Antonio was not expected to survive either – but has now been discharged and is back at the Fundomar nursing home in Sevilla where he lives.

As fit as a fiddle – being 98 aside – Antonio was greeted with an outpouring of delight and affection by staff and other residents, and a chorus of whoops and cheers.

Residents in Spain in their late 90s and early 100s are far more common than elsewhere in the world, even the western world – anecdotal evidence shows that almost every small to medium-sized town has at least two or three centenarians, and that the national total could run into nearly five figures.

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SELF-EMPLOYED persons who own a business premises will not have to pay the mortgage on it until the month after quarantine ends, where they have been forced to shut down altogether or their earnings have 'significantly reduced'.

Deputy president Pablo Iglesias says this is an extension of the moratorium on mortgage repayments agreed two weeks ago for main residences for those affected, and the payment holiday includes both the interest and the capital.

If, for example, quarantine finishes on April 11 as provisionally decided, sole traders will not have to pay the mortgage on their business premises until the last day of May.

Also, they do not have to pay their electricity, gas or other fuel bills linked to the business if they are no longer trading during the lockdown, or have had to cut their workload drastically.

Sole traders, small and medium-sized firms and self-employed workers are able to shelve their Social Security, or National Insurance quotas – payable monthly at a flat rate starting from €283.31 – for up to six months, and their debt repayments until June this year.

At the moment, the moratorium on Social Security payments during the quarantine and the delaying of all others within the next six months only applies to those who have seen their income drop by at least 75%, and self-employed workers across Spain claim the measures are not enough.

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