The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, this Friday (12 February) ruled out changes to the measures currently in force in the region to fight the coronavirus.

He asked the public for "prudence and patience", because "to rush - particularly in a pandemic - is never good."

Moreno made the comments during a speech in the Plaza 12 de Octubre in Huelva at the inauguration of a sculpture tribute to health and essential workers for their labours during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Junta’s head said that thanks to the efforts of the vast majority of Andalusians, the incidence rate of the coronavirus has been reduced in recent days, with "encouraging" data on the drop in the number of infections and hospitalised, although unfortunately it is not happening with the number of deaths, which continues to be "alarming".

The president said that even if we are going in the “right direction” and we begin to see rays of “hope”, it must be clear that rushing things "is never good" and even less so in a pandemic.

He called on the public for “patience and prudence” because there are still areas of the region with "very worrying" coronavirus incidence rates.

Moreno said that no-one has more desire than his government and other administrations to return to normality so that everything can be opened and mobility restored. But he said there are still many "battles" to fight, especially, after the appearance of new strains of the virus, such as the South African, Brazilian and British variants, which already have a significant presence in areas such as the Campo de Gibraltar.

The president said he wanted to make it clear that the autonomous region will follow the "same rules" that are currently in force to fight the coronavirus with "red traffic lights" that have been established namely the closure of municipal borders with a 14-day cumulative incidence rate of more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the closure of borders and non-essential activities in municipalities with a rate of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Moreno said he regretted that there are still people who violate the rules and who do not want to see the seriousness of the situation and that many people continue to die.

Mass vaccination plans

The President of the Junta also announced that he hopes the region will be able to begin a mass vaccination of the population in April when the new Johnson & Johnson vaccines arrive.

He stressed that he will use all the tools at his disposal to reach the “desired” 70 per cent immunity of the population by June.

Moreno said that the central Government’s Ministry of Health has told the autonomous regions that at the end of March or beginning of April new vaccines could be available, such as the aforementioned Johnson & Johnson formula, which could give them “enough vaccines throughout April and May to do a massive vaccination of the population".