The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has expressed his confidence that alert levels currently in force will be lowered on some of the islands as of next week. “The Minister of Health will appear on Sunday with an updated report and will announce that the levels will change as of Monday,” Torres said after the Governing Council meeting on Thursday afternoon.

According to the president, Gran Canaria will move back down to Alert Level 2 and Fuerteventura to level 1, while the next few days will decide whether Lanzarote will drop from the current Añert Level 4. “The levels are going to change, presumably it will be better on islands like Gran Canaria, which would go from level 3 to 2, and Fuerteventura, which would go from level 2 to 1,” he said. He also recalled that the anti-covid measures prohibiting carnival celebrations remain in force until Monday. La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera will likely continue with their current alert levels.

Ángel Víctor Torres warned that the Government have discussed “a slight rebound” in infections on the island of Tenerife at the meeting, but did not suggest whether the alert level will increase. “If the trend of recent days continues, some islands will drop in level,” was his primary remark. Even so, the president asked for prudence: “I have to appeal to responsibility, things are being done well by Canarian society. Let’s not put what we have achieved at risk.”

Forty days of abstinence till Easter

Traditional carnival celebrations, which would usually culminate this week as the start to Lent in the run up to easter, were suspended on all islands to help ensure infection rates continued to be kept under control.  The data on Gran Canaria has been improving for some days now and the island will be relieved to return to Alert Level 2.  Though this in itself is unlikely to affect tourism in the short term, it allows us to build on previous good work as we head into the Spring, and with luck (and vaccinations) we can start looking forward to reopening to international travellers as we head for summer.  With luck and care (and vaccinations) we may even be able to receive visitors by Easter, so long as they too keep infection rates under control this will provide a much needed shot in the arm for suffering tourist businesses.

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