The number of towns in Andalucía facing municipal boundary lockdowns is on the rise.

From this Friday, 26 March, 40 locations will be forced to close their municipal perimeters and nine of them will also be obliged to suspend all non-essential activity, for exceeding the cumulative incident rate of 500 and 1,000 cases of Covid-19 coronavirus per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.

The order was issued after a meeting of the Junta de Andalucía’s public health alert committee gathered to update the current restrictions.

Last week 28 perimeter closures were ordered, while eight towns were left without non-essential activity.

The municipalities that will abandon the perimeter closure measure from midnight this Thursday for lowering the rate of 500 Covid cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days are Padules in Almeria; Paterna de Rivera in Cádiz; Fornes, Játar, Nevada, Peligros and Villa de Otura in Granada; Puebla de Guzmán in Huelva; Beas de Segura in Jaén; Gaucín in Malaga; and Lora del Río in Seville.

According to the latest data updated by the Ministry of Health, the 40 municipalities with mobility restrictions from this Friday, 26 March, for exceeding the rate of 500 Covid cases in the last two weeks are distributed throughout all the provinces except Huelva and Cadiz. Specifically, Seville registers twelve locations, Granada eleven, Almeria seven, Jaén four, and Cordoba and Malaga three each. On the other hand, Almeria, Cadiz and Huelva do not any localities with the suspension of all non-essential activity for exceeding a thousand infections per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days, while four other provinces - Cordoba, Granada, Jaén and Seville - have two municipalities each and Malaga one.

Non-essential activity closure

Specifically, the nine localities without non-essential activity for registering more than 1,000 confirmed Covid cases in the last two weeks are Cogollos de Guadix and Purullena in the province of Granada; Doña Mencía and Pedro Abad in the province of Cordoba; Almadén de la Plata and El Pedroso in the province of Seville; Cambil and Pozo Alcón in the province of Jaén; and Colmenar in the province of Malaga.

Municipal border lockdown

The other 31 municipalities with a perimeter closure for exceeding the rate of 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days are Adra, Santa Cruz de Marchena, Institución, Alcolea, Turrillas, Bayárcal and Paterna del Río in the province of Almería; and Nueva Carteya in the province of Córdoba.

In Granada, in addition to Cogollos de Guadix and Purullena, which exceed the 1,000 rate, another nine towns will have a perimeter closure: Chauchina, Cijuela, Cortes de Baza, Cúllar, Fuente Vaqueros, Láchar, Moclín, Moraleda de Zafayona and Zújar.

In Jaén, in addition to Pozo Alcón and Cambil above the 1,000 rate, the perimeter closure will be in force in two municipalities - Bedmar and Garcíez and Noalej - and another two in the province of Málaga, Casabermeja and Montecorto, in addition to Colmenar that also has the suspension of all non-essential activity.

In Seville there are ten - Brenes, Cazalla de la Sierra, Constantina, Fuentes de Andalucía, El Garrobo, Los Molares, Montellano, Villanueva del Río and Minas, Paradas y Pilas - which are added to another two over a thousand - Almadén de la Plata and El Pedroso.