After a disappointing day for the Canary Islands Government because the Superior Court of Justice (TSJC) provisionally overturned the measures that came into force last Monday, which were approved by the Governing Council last week, regarding the requirement to present the Covid certificate or diagnostic test to access interiors of hospitality venues, gyms and cultural spaces, the rejection of capacity limitations indoors, and the closure of all commercial activity between midnight and 6am, the Government spokesman, Julio Perez, and the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, led the press conference after today’s meeting.
Julio Pérez started out by saying that the "extremely precautionary" measure of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands to suspend the obligation to show the Covid vaccination passport to access the interiors of hospitality establishments, gyms, cinemas, and theatres, among others, will be appealed by the Canary Islands Government.
Pérez has insisted that the measure is provisional and that it comes after the precautionary measures requested by the Círculo de Empresarios y Profesionales del Sur de Tenerife (CEST) and by the Asociación Hostelería Unida Tenerife (HUT), claiming, "Until now they have only listened to that part, they have not listened to the Canarian Executive yet," he explained.
It should be remembered that the order itself gives the Government of the Canary Islands three business days to make its allegations and appeal regarding the maintenance, modification or revocation of the agreement. Next week, therefore, the Chamber will decide whether to maintain its current decisions or modify them in view of the arguments of the legal services of the Regional Executive, so until then, at least, all regulations and requirements remain in place.
He continued by saying "Health is what worries us the most in the Governing Council and after receiving the weekly report from the Canary Islands Health Service, the situation is very worrying and not only on the island of Tenerife".
He confirmed that the increase in the number of infections is somewhat less than last week, but "continues to move at very worrying levels" as well as the incidence of infections, which continues to be "intense" in age groups between 40 and 50 years, as well as in the younger age groups. However, he assured that the vaccination campaign is going "well and continues to be our hope," especially as the level of hospital occupancy or pressure is also high.
The Government, says Pérez, has tried to combine the defence of health, so that the impact of the pandemic is as low as possible, making it compatible with the development of economic activity, as well as the legality of the measures that were approved." Perez finished by saying that the government respects the decision of the TSJC, but doesn’t necessarily agree with it, and will take up their right to appeal. The regulations are still in force until made official by the court and appealed against by the Government.
At this point, the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, took over and pointed out that although the Delta variant has been very virulent, and although the contagion data are worrying, "the Canary Islands still has the third-best data in all of Spain," even though he expressed his concern about the increase in hospital pressure, and confirmed that that "all the islands maintain the highest level of health alert."
Regarding Tenerife, Trujillo stressed that "what worries them most is the pressure in the ICUs, which is currently at a very high level of occupancy, over 25% of ICU beds". He also referred to vaccination, noting that a total of 1,132,071 people are now fully immunised, 60.5% of the target population.
He also confirmed that there are no level changes this week so that Tenerife will remain at level 4, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and La Palma at 3, and Lanzarote and La Gomera, at 2, while El Hierro will remain at level 1.
