Back to work for some in Spain as death rate eases

Workers in Spain’s construction and manufacturing sectors cautiously returned to work on Monday as the daily death toll resumed its downward trend and new infections fell to the lowest level in three weeks.

One of the worst-hit countries in the world, Spain saw the daily death rate fall for three consecutive days last week, only to rise again on Sunday.

But on Monday it fell again, with 517 deaths in 24 hours, putting the overall death toll at 17,489 with the number of cases now standing at 169,496.

Confirmed cases also rose by 3,477 — the lowest daily figure since March 20 — as Spain began reopening parts of its economy after a two-week “economic hibernation” period.

Although health chiefs say the outbreak in Spain has peaked, they have urged the population to keep observing a strict national lockdown imposed on March 14 to slow the spread of the virus.

The restrictions were further tightened on March 30 when all non-essential activities were frozen for two weeks — largely targeting the construction and manufacturing sectors.

But those restrictions were lifted on Monday despite warnings from some quarters that lifting restrictions too soon could trigger a fresh outbreak.

With workers heading back to their jobs, the government began a huge operation to distribute 10 million masks this week. Some 4,500 police, Red Cross volunteers and security guards handed them out at 1,500 locations across the country, the interior ministry said.

At Madrid’s Atocha station, commuters took the masks from officers at arm’s length to avoid getting too close.

“It’s amazing that the government is doing this because either you can’t find them in shops or they’re very expensive,” said nurse Brenda Palacios, who took two of them.

“I have one at work but I can’t take it home with me so I leave it there.”

Masks have been hard to come by in recent weeks and some commuters said the handouts put them at ease during their trips to work.

“It’s wonderful because it’s so necessary and it helps those of us who have to use public transport,” said office worker Jose Antonio Cruces.

“Most people (on public transport) don’t have masks or gloves.”

Although public transport in much of Spain has been largely empty in recent weeks, the few commuters using it often do not have protective gear.

“I work in healthcare and we have them but very few of them, so I didn’t have one to travel to and from work,” said Maria Martinez.

For commuters, having a mask was essential as “we don’t know who’s infected or if we ourselves are asymptomatic,” she said.

Figures released by the Madrid metro showed passenger traffic on Monday morning was up 34 percent compared with the same time last week.

Despite the partial easing of restrictions, Health Minister Salvador Illa stressed that “economic activity had restarted only in some very limited sectors” and that the generalised ban on people’s movements needed to be strictly respected.

“They are still tough measures but we must keep them in place, despite the figures” showing a drop in new deaths and infections, he added.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.