While several European countries advise their nationals not to go to Catalonia or Spain, the government of Pedro Sanchez is trying to reassure. It must be said that the stakes are high for Spain, which hosted 83.7 million tourists last year, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). In view of the epidemiological situation in the Iberian country, is the decision of the European countries justified or exaggerated?
This Tuesday, the government spokeswoman declared after a council of ministers that "Spain is a safe destination" and added that "all people who visit the country are aware of the quality of our health system".
"The situation is under control, the outbreaks are located, have been isolated and controlled," abounded Sunday the Spanish Foreign Ministry, after the British decision to impose a fortnight on travelers returning from the Iberian country.
Pedro Sanchez, in a tweet published on Monday, even took stock of the epidemiological situation in his country, while sending a small pick to the British authorities. “In most of Spain, the level of incidence of Covid-19 is much lower than the European average and that of the United Kingdom,” he wrote.
In the majority of Spain, the incidencia acumulada del # COVID19 sigue siendo muy baja, inferior a la media europea y del Reino Unido. Trabajamos con las autoridades británicas para encontrar una solución y que sus decisiones is based on epidemiological criteria. # SánchezEnT5 pic.twitter.com/NRbRNnVZoT
- Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) July 27, 2020A concentrated increase in cases
"He is right," said the Parisian Mircea Sofonea, lecturer in epidemiology at the University of Montpellier (Hérault). “There is a strong spatial heterogeneity in Spain, with Catalonia and Aragon which concentrate most of the positive cases. For the rest of the country, there is not a very different dynamic from the rest of Western Europe.
An assertion confirmed by this map which shows that the resumption of the epidemic only concerns part of Spanish territory. Nevertheless, it is a demographically important region and a major tourist destination. This is not the case with the French department of Mayenne, the main point of resumption of the epidemic in France.
"Diplomatic game"
The reaction across the Channel is perhaps "exaggerated" but what about the words of the spokesperson for the government of Pedro Sanchez, who assures that "Spain is a safe country"?
"No country is currently safe in Europe," says Mircea Sofonea. But for the specialist, we must not lose sight of the “diplomatic game”. “The Spanish economy, which was impacted by the first wave, relies heavily on tourism. It is therefore normal that we have a communication to this effect from the Spanish government ”. Tourism represents 12.5% of Spain's GDP, the country's second largest economic sector behind trade, according to the Mesa de Turismo.
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“The sector's economic loss is enormous and there is no way to save it anyway,” said Carlos Abella, president of the Mesa de Turismo. The year is already lost ”.
"Spain is singled out because it is the first to experience a return of the epidemic, but other countries will follow", concludes Mircea Sofonea. An assertion which seems to be confirmed, with in particular the case of Germany, which records on average 600 new cases per day currently, or of Belgium, confronted with a quiver of the epidemic.