The restrictions on freedom of movement in the Arquitecte Bennàssar area in the north-east of the city will be resolved and put into effect by the weekend, announced the Prime Minister of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, in the regional parliament on Tuesday.
Similar measures will also be ordered for some areas of Ibiza that are also badly affected by new outbreaks. Restrictions on freedom of movement are planned for districts of the island capital of the same name and in San Antoni.
Mallorca is fighting against Covid-19 and sealing off residential areas
The Son Gotleu, which borders Arquitecte Bennàssar, has been cordoned off on the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca since Friday evening. Since then, the approximately 23,000 people affected have only been allowed to leave the working-class district to go to work, a doctor or a hospital, school or other educational institution, or to look after people in need of care.
This arrangement is initially valid for two weeks. It was the first lockdown of an area in the Balearic Islands since the end of the nationwide three-and-a-half-month lockdown on June 21. Numerous other areas or municipalities are cordoned off in Spain.
Both Son Gotleu and Arquitecte Bennàssar are home to many immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. The social problems there have worsened due to the pandemic. The holidaymakers, who are of enormous importance to the economy of the islands, rarely come there, although the bullring of Palma is in Arquitecte Bennàssar.
Risk area: Hardly any more holidaymakers in the Balearic Islands
These days there are very few holidaymakers left in the Balearic Islands. All of Spain was declared a risk area by Berlin. Great Britain and other European countries also ordered mandatory tests or compulsory quarantine for those returning to Spain. Most holidaymakers from other Spanish regions also left at the end of the summer holiday and the resumption of classroom teaching in schools.
Also read: New rules from October 1st – Risk area: From when a travel warning no longer applies to a country
The central criterion for the classification as a risk area by the federal government is in which states or regions there have been more than 50 newly infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. In the Balearic Islands with almost 1.2 million inhabitants, this number was last between 120 and 170, according to the regional authorities.