the times | Monday June 29 2020 2GM 13News
A week before British tourists begin to
return to Spain’s beaches, elaborate
plans are being rolled out to turn sand
into safe space.
Thousands of miles of coastline,
stretching from the Costa Brava to the
Costa del Sol, are having a makeover
designed to prevent the kind of uncon-
trolled saturation of beaches that has
occurred at Bournemouth and other
English resorts.
Drones, cameras providing live feeds
and lots of security tape are the main in-
gredients in this unprecedented effort
to maintain Spain’s position as north-
ern Europe’s favourite playground in
the time of coronavirus.
Though it has had thousands fewer
deaths than the UK, Spain has been one
of the countries worst hit by the virus,
with more than 28,000 officially re-
ported deaths and an infection rate far
higher than average at 6 per 10,
people.
Since Madrid and Barcelona were
the last cities to emerge from lockdown
a week ago, and a countrywide “state of
alarm” was lifted, health officials have
been closely monitoring for new local
outbreaks, with about 40 detected so
far. Should any of these develop into
wider risks the authorities will not hesi-
tate to reimpose restrictions. The latest
figures show two new deaths in the past
24 hours and 118 new infections.
Among the solutions that towns are
introducing to manage their beaches
are sensor-controlled access systems
that can warn when capacity is being
reached, the parcelling off of sections
for groups and the banning of games
such as volleyball, which take up too
much space or involve too many
people. Sunloungers and parasols will
be systematically disinfected through-
out the day.
“The way we go to the beach this year
has changed but that doesn’t mean we
can’t enjoy it,” says a promotional video
for Benidorm, the Costa Blanca resortItalians crowd on to trains
in rush for the beaches
Tom Kington RomeItalians packed on to trains and caused
huge traffic jams at the weekend as they
scrambled to reach beaches to cele-
brate good weather and the end of lock-
down, even as new Covid-19 clusters
flared up around the country.
In Milan, residents heading for
beaches in the coastal region of Liguria
were ejected from an overcrowded
train and made to wait for a specially
laid-on service, while extra buses and
trains also ran to get beachgoers to
Adriatic resorts such as Rimini.
On the roads, traffic slowed to a crawl
between Milan and Liguria, while mo-
torists arriving at beaches near Rome
were turned away as spaces filled up.
At the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Ital-
ians and the first European tourists re-
turning to Italy thought they would get
the masterpieces to themselves. In-
stead they faced a two-hour queue to
get in, with frustrated visitors calling
the police to complain.
“We have reduced capacity from 900
to 450 to cope with distancing, and
about 3,500 people turned up on Satur-
day, many without bookings and theylingered longer to admire the art,” a
spokesman said. “Things were under
control by Sunday, and we are now
going to extend opening hours.”
The eagerness in Italy to shrug off the
isolation of lockdown prompted alarm
as many appeared to ignore rules still in
force on social distancing.
About 8,000 people in Naples, many
without masks, squeezed on to ferries
shoulder-to-shoulder to reach the is-
land of Capri on Saturday.
“Capri obeyed all the rules and shut
itself off during lockdown, which is why
we had zero cases, and which is why I
get so angry seeing this behaviour from
visitors now coming over,” said Marino
Lembo, the mayor of Capri. “We want
tourists back, but we want them to obey
the distancing rules that apply at our
hotels and beaches,” he added.
Coronavirus has killed more than
34,000 people in Italy but new deaths
were down to eight on Saturday as the
contagion slowed. New clusters are
cropping up, however, including more
than 100 cases linked to a courier com-
pany in Bologna, and dozens in tower
blocks occupied by Bulgarian fruit
packers in Mondragone, near Naples.News
Drones patrol Spanish
coast to make tourists
keep their distance
Pablo Sharrock Madrid which is a magnet for British tourists
and which recorded 16 million over-
night stays last year.
Its two main beaches have been di-
vided into four-square-metre sections
that beachgoers can reserve through an
app. The system has yet to be used
because of the lack of visitors but the
town is praying that the season can be
saved with the return of British tourists
next week.
This will be a summer like no other.
Cruise liners will not return for now to
cities such as Barcelona, upholding a
ban from docking at ports that was im-
posed in March to stop the spread of
Covid-19. Last year ten million cruise
passengers visited Spain.
Political parties have begun cam-
paigning before the regional elections,
which are only weeks away. Pedro Sán-
chez, the prime minister, wore a mask
and avoided shaking hands with sup-
porters at a rally in San Sebastian.
The Basque country and Galicia will
go to the polls on July 12. For the coali-
tion government of Socialists and the
far-left Podemos grouping, it will be a
test of its response to dealing with the
greatest shock to Spain’s economy since
democracy was restored after the death
of the military dictator General Franco
more than 40 years ago.
Over the weekend thousands
marched in the streets in the biggest
demonstrations since the crisis began
to demand a stronger response to the
fallout from the pandemic.
“We want the country to be rebuilt,
we need a national agreement so this
pandemic won’t be politically exploit-
ed,” said Pepe Álvarez, a trade union
leader.
The latest official government statis-
tics show an unemployment rate of 14.
per cent but there are fears that it could
rise to 19 per cent by the end of this year.
The IMF says that Spain’s economy is
likely to shrink by 12.8 per cent this year
— slightly more than the 12 per cent
that tourism contributes to the coun-
try’s GDP.JUAN CARLOS TORO/GETTY IMAGES
Spaniards
flocked to
beaches such
as Santa Maria
del Mar in
Cadiz as
restrictions
were easedrecorded more than 13,500 cases
and 265 deaths from Covid-19.egypt
In Cairo coffee shops reopened to
non-takeaway customers for the first
time since mid-March. But sheesha,
the hookah water pipes so popular
in the Middle East, are no longer
offered widely over sanitary
concerns. Cafés (with capacity
limited to 25 per cent), clubs, gyms
and theatres reopened on Saturday
despite a continued upward trend in
new infections. Mosques and
churches were allowed a limitedin quarantine after reveller is infected
Testing for the virus in Melbourne,
Victoria, where infections are risingreopening, and the nighttime
curfew has been lifted. Egypt’s
health ministry has reported
62,755 infections, including 2,
deaths.south korea
South Korea has confirmed 62 new
cases of the coronavirus over a 24-
hour period. The new cases have
been linked to nightclubs, church
services, an enormous
e-commerce warehouse and low-
income workers. The additional
cases reported on Sunday took the
total to 12,715 with 282 deaths.australia
The state of Victoria will impose
mandatory coronavirus tests on
returning travellers after a sharp
spike in infections over the past
two weeks. The state had 49 new
cases yesterday, its highest in more
than two months and the 12th
consecutive day of double-digit
rises. The rest of Australia has
seen almost no infections.
Despite the spike in Victoria,
Australia’s 7,700 cases and 104
deaths remain well below those of
many other nations.greece
The island of Kos will host 170
German doctors without charge “in
recognition and gratitude for their
contribution in combating the
coronavirus in Germany”, the
tourism ministry said as the country
prepared to reopen its regional
airports to passenger flights.
Greece has registered fewer than
200 deaths attributed to Covid-19.
But with a quarter of the nation’s
economy dependent on tourism, the
government wants to reassure
potential visitors that they can safely
holiday in Greece as Europe begins
to open back up to travel.serbia
Serbia’s government said its defence
minister, Aleksandar Vulin, had
tested positive for the coronavirus.
Known for his highly pro-Russian
stance, Mr Vulin was part of Serbia’s
delegation led by President Vucic
that attended a Victory Day parade
this week in Moscow. Mr Vucic met
President Putin but it was not clear
whether Mr Vulin did so as well.
Serbia has seen a spike in
coronavirus cases since lifting strict
lockdown measures in May. It has