Category: Technology
Latest Gran Canaria News, Views & Sunshine
The Canary Guide #WeekendTips 31 March – 2 April 2023
A glorious first weekend of April ahead and the beginning of the christian Holy Week “Semana Santa”, diligently observed in Spain. There will be many religious acts and processions throughout the week around the island, especially in the capital. Don’t forget it’s also April fools’ on Saturday even though it isn’t a tradition in Spain, there will be those who will take the whimsical opportunity for some hilarity. The Mercado Inglés is on at The British Club of Las Palmas and there is also an authentic Canarian rural fair to visit this weekend in the traditional mountain market town of San Mateo.
Gran Canaria Weather: Yellow Warnings – Up to 36ºC, in the shade, expected on the south, high temperatures with strong winds and calima expected to affect all The Canary Islands this week
The Spanish State Meterological Agency, AEMET, has issued yellow warnings for heat, calima haze and strong winds this week on the Canary Islands forecasting high temperatures of up to 34ºC expected on several islands. An alert has been issued due to a risk of forest fires on Gran Canaria as the mix of dry weather, strong winds and high temperatures has led to concerns over coming days.
Wild fires Alert on Gran Canaria this Wednesday, with temperatures set to exceed 34ºC in the shade
Springtime has only just begun and already the temperatures, in the shade, on Gran Canaria have been repeatedly hitting the low to mid-thirties, which brings with it also a rising risk of Forest Fires and Wildfires. Here in the Canary Islands forest fire crews are well versed in tackling an occasional mountain blaze, with alert levels often following the basic informal rule of thumb, the so-called 30/30/30 rule, putting the authorities on alert whenever the temperature is set to rise above 30ºC in the shade, the humidity levels drop below 30% and sustained winds are forecast at faster than 30kmph. Common sense and preparation help the general population to avoid injury in the event of a fire taking hold.
The Canary Guide #WeekendTips 24-26 March 2023
Plum tree blossoming in Tenteniguada March 2023
It’s the last weekend of March already and Spring is here; winter is behind us and the summer weather is already hotting up on Gran Canaria. The hillsides are in full bloom, particularly up in the mountain summits; it’s Carnival Weekend in Arguineguín and the last of the carnival festivities for this year are happening around the island. With summer just around the corner, clocks Spring forward this Saturday and Sunday night when 1am becomes 2am 🕐. On the north of the island, one of the biggest seasonal trade fairs is happening, gathering produce and people from 11 municipalities, ENORTE will be celebrated in the historic Rum capital of the island, Arucas, this weekend.
Gran Canaria Weather: Temperatures of 31ºC in the shade and slight calima as we head towards a warm spring weekend
Its a perfect Gran Canaria springtime weekend ahead with light calima sands blowing in from the Sahara, temperatures in the shade of 31ºC, light breezes and blue skies. Remember too the clocks spring forward by an hour this weekend.
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Works on the new Soria-Chira hydroelectric project expand to the Soria Dam
The new Salto de Chira hydroelectric power station project broke ground this year, after nearly 2 decades of planning, with works now being prepared on the primary wall of the Soria dam (the largest in The Canary Islands) and its surroundings, where a spillway will be constructed to facilitate access via a service road to install elements such as water intake, the hydraulic circuit along with a secondary tunnel which will be installed.
Europe hopes to restart tourism and travel with the new Digital Green Certificate to facilitate safe EU freedom of movement
On Wednesday the European Commission laid out their proposals for the new Digital Green Certificate to facilitate safe freedom of movement inside the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Digital Green Certificate will be used to prove whether or not a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, if they have received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19. It will be available, free of charge, in both digital or paper formats. It will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity of the certificate. The Commission plans to build an EU-wide digital gateway to ensure all certificates can be verified, and support Member States in the technical implementation of certificates. Member States will remain responsible for deciding which public health restrictions can be waived for travellers but will have to apply any such waivers in the same way to travellers holding a Digital Green Certificate. The proposals were first announced at the end of February, however The Canary Islands were the first to trial a so-called Health Passport, last summer, with UNWTO, and have been calling for similar measures since the start of the pandemic more than a year ago.
Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová said:
“The Digital Green Certificate offers an EU-wide solution to ensure that EU citizens benefit from a harmonised digital tool to support free movement in the EU. This is a good message in support of recovery. Our key objectives are to offer an easy to use, non-discriminatory and secure tool that fully respects data protection. And we continue working towards international convergence with other partners.”
Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said:
“With the Digital Green Certificate, we are taking a European approach to ensure EU citizens and their family members can travel safely and with minimum restrictions this summer. The Digital Green Certificate will not be a pre-condition to free movement and it will not discriminate in any way. A common EU-approach will not only help us to gradually restore free movement within the EU and avoid fragmentation. It is also a chance to influence global standards and lead by example based on our European values like data protection.”
EU Digital Green Certificate
On Wednesday March 17 the European Commission outlined plans for the new EU Digital Green Certificate, it is hoped it will be in place before June.
It remains to be seen what similar proposals the UK may wish to put forward to help restart international travel and tourism.
Posted by TheCanary.TV on Thursday, March 18, 2021
It is hoped that this free, bilingual, interoperable and digital certificate will help boost a restart to tourism for the summer allowing travellers to move between countries avoiding some of the restrictions currently in place. The European Parliament and each of the EU countries must first approve the proposal, among which there are some including France or Belgium who have expressed their reluctance to move too quickly as the vaccination rate is lower than expected and there are concerns about discrimination. For now, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, yesterday, expressed Spain’s support for the certificate proposals.
“It will benefit us and we can aspire to a summer with some tourist activity”
Yaiza Castilla – Canary Islands Regional Minister for Tourism
The Canary Islands have expressed some doubts as to whether the benefits will be greater than the costs. Health experts have suggested that it could be a “hasty” measure as not enough vaccine doses have yet been provided and because many aspects of the protection afforded by the various vaccines are still unknown. Several have also raised concerns that this initiative may generate a series of ethical problems as it could cause greater discrimination regarding who can and who cannot travel.
“The vaccine prevents the development of the disease, but not the infection”
Amós García Rojas – Epidemiologist
The electronic certificate will carry health data about the holder with a QR code with which to verify its authenticity, validity and the integrity of the certificate. It will be available in the official language of each country that issues it, and in English. It is not currently planned for use by British citizens travelling to or from the UK.
“We want to help the Member States to restore freedom of movement in a reliable way,” said EC President, Ursula Von der Leyen, on Wednesday during the presentation of the initiative. To which the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynder added that Brussels hopes that the document is ready “before the summer, perhaps in June”.
“The homogenisation of clear measures is what has been lacking from the first phase”
Juan Pablo González – Ashotel
Canary Islands Regional Minister for Tourism, Yaiza Castilla, said it is a “very positive, complementary measure” that once implemented “will help regain confidence in mobility and vacation travel.” The Minister welcomed the “show of unity” behind this joint decision of the European Union. Because the lack of common criteria within member states has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the European tourism sector so far.
“The homogenisation of clear measures is what has been lacking since the first phase,” commented Juan Pablo González of Ashotel, who expressed positivity that, for the first time since the pandemic began, a single criterion has been established for European travellers.
José María Mañaricúa, president of the Las Palmas Hospitality and Tourism Federation (FEHT), said the covid passport is a good initiative “as long as it is taken as a joint decision”.
“It will be useful when most of the population is vaccinated”
Rodrigo Martín – President of the COMTF
While Spain has expressed willingness to support this European initiative, Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto, stated a few days ago that Spain could start using the certificate in May –just in time for the rescheduled International Tourism Fair FITUR. However France and Belgium have expressed reluctance due to what they see as the possibility of discrimination against people who have not been vaccinated, taking into account that the vaccination rate is currently lower than had been hoped for.
Roberto Ucelay, president of the Circle of Entrepreneurs and Professionals of the South of Tenerife (CEST) points out the maxim of this initiative is “to guarantee better control of travellers”, and estimates that this is one of the the most useful features of the new certificate, but is very critical of the border management currently carried out by the Canary Islands government, saying that “there are people who are not even checked if they are travelling with the test done, despite it being mandatory.” In his opinion the digitisation of these types of data is an important part of the European initiative.
The Canary Islands government has called for prudence. “This passport is not a pass that totally frees us from risks, it is only a tool with which, it is intended, to indicate that the risks of contagion have been minimised,” says Yaiza Castilla, “we must live with other protection measures at least until the the pandemic can be overcome and not lower our guard”. There are doubts about factors such as “the temporal scope of the immunity of vaccines or their behaviour against new strains.” At the moment, the certificate does not have a specific validity period, it will depend on subsequent scientific evidence.
Despite the doubts and reluctance expressed about this new initiative, what is clear from the Canary Islands is that “without a doubt it will benefit us”, Castilla points out, expressing hope that the Archipelago can enjoy a summer “with some tourist activity” that lays the foundations for a more solid recovery in 2022 starting from the high season, beginning in November 2021.
Spanish doctors have asked for support to be withdrawn for the Digital Green Certificate
The Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS) yesterday asked the Spanish government not to support the implementation of the vaccination certificate because there is no scientific evidence on the transmissibility of people who have been vaccinated, it would be discriminatory because there is not yet universal access to vaccines and it violates health data privacy.
SESPAS pointed out that “the usefulness of the vaccine in reducing transmission is not yet entirely clear and, in any case, it could be limited” saying “it cannot be ruled out that a vaccinated person can transmit the virus”.
“This may pose a significant risk to the appearance of new variants”, which could be more transmissible. The effectiveness of vaccines has already been shown in some trials to be lower against emerging variants. “The use of the certificate with the belief that the vaccinated person will not get sick and will not transmit the virus could be a public health problem of the first order. The certificate may have a great impact due to the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 and this could contribute to generating new pandemic waves ”, the society warned in a statement. They also pointed out that “the duration of the immunity conferred by vaccination is still unknown, so a certificate of this type may only be temporary.” | Efe
“The digital green certificate will not be a precondition for free movement and in no case will it be discriminatory,” said Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, to emphasise that the Community Executive has listened to the reservations of countries such as France and Belgium, who warn that they will not accept a “covid passport”
If the certificate goes ahead, which still has to be negotiated with the Council and the European Parliament, the Commission also asks that it be a “temporary” measure that is suspended at the time the World Health Organisation declares the end of the international health emergency.
This initiative is open to countries within the European Economic Area – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – on the condition of reciprocity and the Commission is working with third countries to also seek convergence with international systems.
Key elements of the regulation proposed by the Commission:
Accessible and secure certificates for all EU citizens:
The Digital Green Certificate will cover three types of certificates –vaccination certificates, test certificates (NAAT/RT-PCR test or a rapid antigen test), and certificates for persons who have recovered from COVID-19.
The certificates will be issued in a digital form or on paper. Both will have a QR code that contains necessary key information as well as a digital signature to make sure the certificate is authentic.
The Commission will build a gateway and support Member States to develop software that authorities can use to verify all certificate signatures across the EU. No personal data of the certificate holders passes through the gateway, or is retained by the verifying Member State.
The certificates will be available free of charge and in the official language or languages of the issuing Member State and English.
Non-discrimination:
All people – vaccinated and non-vaccinated – should benefit from a Digital Green Certificate when travelling in the EU. To prevent discrimination against individuals who are not vaccinated, the Commission proposes to create not only an interoperable vaccination certificate, but also COVID-19 test certificates and certificates for persons who have recovered from COVID-19.
Same right for travellers with the Digital Green Certificate –where Member States accept proof of vaccination to waive certain public health restrictions such as testing or quarantine, they would be required to accept, under the same conditions, vaccination certificates issued under the Digital Green Certificate system. This obligation would be limited to vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorisation, but Member States can decide to accept other vaccines in addition.
Notification of other measures – if a Member State continues to require holders of a Digital Green Certificate to quarantine or test, it must notify the Commission and all other Member States and explain the reasons for such measures.
Only essential information and secure personal data:
The certificates will include a limited set of information such as name, date of birth, date of issuance, relevant information about vaccine/test/recovery and a unique identifier of the certificate. This data can be checked only to confirm and verify the authenticity and validity of certificates.
The Digital Green Certificate will be valid in all EU Member States and open for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway as well as Switzerland. The Digital Green Certificate should be issued to EU citizens and their family members, regardless of their nationality. It should also be issued to non-EU nationals who reside in the EU and to visitors who have the right to travel to other Member States.
The Digital Green Certificate system is a temporary measure. It will be suspended once the World Health Organisation (WHO) declares the end of the COVID-19 international health emergency.
Next Steps
To be ready before the summer, this proposal needs a swift adoption by the European Parliament and the Council.
In parallel, Member States must implement the trust framework and technical standards, agreed in the eHealth network, to ensure timely implementation of the Digital Green Certificate, their interoperability and full compliance with personal data protection. The aim is to have the technical work and the proposal completed in the coming months.
Background
To comply with the measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus, travellers in the EU have been asked to provide various documents, such as medical certificates, test results, or declarations. The absence of standardised formats has resulted in travellers experiencing problems when moving within the EU. There have also been reports of fraudulent or forged documents.
In their statement adopted following the informal video conferences on 25 and 26 February 2021, the members of the European Council called for work to continue on a common approach to vaccination certificates. The Commission has been working with the Member States in the eHealth Network, a voluntary network connecting national authorities responsible for eHealth, on preparing the interoperability of vaccination certificates. Guidelines were adopted on 27 January and updated on 12 March, and the trust framework outline was agreed on 12 March 2021.
On Wednesday the Commission adopted a legislative proposal establishing a common framework for a Digital Green Certificate. The Commission also adopted a complementary proposal to ensure that the Digital Green Certificate is also issued to non-EU nationals who reside in Member States or Schengen Associated States and to visitors who have the right to travel to other Member States. Separate proposals to cover citizens and non-EU citizens are necessary for legal reasons; there is no difference in treatment of citizens and eligible non-EU citizens for the purpose of the certificates.
The latest information on coronavirus measures as well as travel restrictions provided to us by Member States are available on the Re-open EU platform.
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The Canary News
Record tourist arrivals to The Canary Islands, though Gran Canaria lags behind in the recovery
by Sanna | 21st February 2023 | Economy, Tourism | 0 Comments2023 has started positively in terms of foreign tourism numbers. In January, the archipelago welcomed 1.22 million foreign visitors, a 3.2% increase from 2019 (1.18 million). The figure even surpasses the numbers from 2018 (1.21 million) and 2017 (1.20 million) to set...
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Face masks will no longer be compulsory on public transport from 7 February
by Sanna | 29th January 2023 | #TheCanaryCoronaVirus, Health, News | 0 CommentsMasks will no longer be required on public transport, though they will remain necessary in healthcare establishments and services, and for workers and visitors attending healthcare and social care facilities. ...
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Mogán town council assumes direct management of services on Playa de Mogán
by Sanna | 29th January 2023 | Local Council, Mogán, Tourism | 0 CommentsThe Mogán Local Council on Friday installed new sun beds and umbrellas on Playa de Mogán, beginning direct management of seasonal services of this popular beach, along with the other six beaches for which it now holds corresponding authorisations: Las Marañuelas,...
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Cordial director says they will fight “illegal” decision to allow cement factory to continue in Port of Santa Águeda
by Timon .:. | 6th January 2023 | Business, Government, News, Tourism | 0 CommentsThe general director of hoteliers, the Cordial group, a member of the Las Palmas tourist association, Nicolás Villalobos, has described as "illegal" the decision taken by the Canarian Regional Government to extend the usage of the deep water port of Santa Águeda so...
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Works on the new Soria-Chira hydroelectric project expand to the Soria Dam
by Timon .:. | 12th December 2022 | Environment, Government, News, Technology | 0 CommentsThe new Salto de Chira hydroelectric power station project broke ground this year, after nearly 2 decades of planning, with works now being prepared on the primary wall of the Soria dam (the largest in The Canary Islands) and its surroundings, where a spillway will be...
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Ella the danger mouse grabs more than she bargained for on holiday in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria
by Timon .:. | 17th November 2022 | Family, News, Tourism | 0 CommentsElla the danger mouse got more than she bargained for when she tried to win herself one of the gift teddies in a grab-a-prize machine, located in the family amusement zone of the Sunspot bar, in Fase IV of the Shopping Centre Puerto Rico, last Sunday at about 8.30 pm....
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Regular resident bus travel to be FREE – 100% subsidised – in the Canary Islands from Jan 1
by Timon .:. | 15th November 2022 | News, politics, Transport, Transport | 0 CommentsSpain's central government in Madrid, it was announced this Monday, has accepted 100% free resident travel on Canary Islands urban and interurban buses from January 1. The regionalist CC party have been negotiating with and socialist PSOE government since October...
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The Canary Guide: Maspalomas Market has moved to Parque Europeo while the new facilities are being built
by Sanna | 16th October 2022 | Community, Fairs & Markets, Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés, Sunshine, Tourism | 0 CommentsAt the start of October the popular Maspalomas Market moved to the Parque Europeo, in the heart of Playa del Inglés. The Town Council provisionally moved the Wednesday and Saturday market due to works due to start on the new municipal market renovation The Councillor...
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San Bartolomé de Tirajana will completely renew sunbeds and umbrellas on its beaches
by Sanna | 16th September 2022 | Local Council, Maspalomas, Sunshine, Tourism | 0 CommentsThe Maspalomas-Gran Canaria Tourism Rehabilitation Consortium has put out to tender, to a value of €600,000, divided into two lots, for the supply of sun-beds (hammocks) and umbrellas for the beaches of Maspalomas Costa Canaria, Spain and The Canary Islands' top...
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The Canary Guide #WeekendTips 2-4 September 2022
by Sanna | 2nd September 2022 | Events & Leisure, Fairs & Markets, Tourism, Weekend Tips | 0 CommentsIt's the first weekend of September edition of The Canary Guide #WeekendTips. What a summer its been, but it's not quite over yet, and as we roll towards the autumn there is a full weekend of activities ahead, with various events and fairs to go and see. The month of...
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Bone age determination tests on hundreds of young migrants have shown that adults were being accommodated in juvenile facilities
Bone age determination tests are being carried out on hundreds of young migrants, and some results, as suspected, have shown that there were adults erroneously being accommodated in juvenile facilities. Upon arrival to the Canary Islands, unaccompanied minors, young people under 18 years of age, are protected under law by the Autonomous Community. The Regional Government has previously estimated that up to 600 of the migrants claiming to be children are in fact older and have chosen to enter the Canarian Executive’s child protection network erroneously, in an effort to evade deportation or other consequences.
This is a problem taken very seriously by the Ministry for Social Rights, who have been all but overwhelmed by the massive increased arrival of minors to the archipelago, having had to organise temporary accommodation for several hundred of them in hotels on the south of Gran Canaria. What’s more, the Canary Islands’ entire Community budget this year, for this work, has already been used up in just the first two months of the year.
The Ministry previously indicated that they currently care for 2,036 presumed minors, without documentation to assist with determination of age, although it is, in their opinion, only necessary to X-ray about 1,000 for whom there are reasonable doubts; as the rest are obvious minors. There are about 300 individuals, thought to be adults, who are according to the Ministry, clearly older and then up to another 300 approximately for whom it cannot be certain, as they are thought to be in the age group of between 17 and 20. All will be subject to bone age determination tests to assess and record their age, at an accuracy rate of up to 95%.
The Ministry has now demonstrated that there are in fact adults who have to leave the centres accommodating minors. If they are adults, they become the responsibility of the Spanish State. In this context, the Immigration Prosecutor’s Office have determined 54 adults (26 on Tenerife and 28 on Gran Canaria) who were in juvenile centres but are not children, the Ministry of Social Rights reports.
On February 10, at the request of the Ministry, a meeting took place between the Government Delegation, National Police, Guardia Civil, The Immigration Prosecutor’s Office, the various collaborating organisations that have been delegated to take care of minors and the Ministry of Health, as well as the Institute of Legal Medicine to coordinate the bone age determination tests process and speed it up, especially on Gran Canaria due to the number of minors who have reached the island, because there has been no protocol to determine age from when they arrive and so if they declared that they are minors they were simply sent to the centres. The Covid-19 pandemic response and restrictions have also delayed these tests. Since the meeting, the processing of bone samples has been streamlined in a “remarkable way”, explained the Social Rights Ministry.
Nine autonomies will welcome just 177 of last year’s migrant children, of the 2,658 that are currently in the Canary Islands Child Protection system
The President of the Regional Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, made a loud call for help last Monday, in Brussels, making clear that the Canary Islands need solidarity and resources to care for these minors. The Canarian Executive has also asked the Spanish State and other autonomous communities to be jointly responsible for the care of these minors. Nine Spanish Regional Governments have responded but offering only 177 places to assist some of the 2,658 minors currently under Canary Islands guardianship. Referrals begin on March 10. Catalonia has been the most supportive, with the offer of 43 places; Castilla León and Extremadura have offered 25 each; Cantabria and Galicia 20; Valencia 18; Asturias 16; Navarra 10 and Aragón about 15. Meetings have continued with Castilla La Mancha and the Basque Country. Ceuta, Melilla, Murcia, Andalusia, Madrid, La Rioja and the Balearic Islands have not shown predisposition to assist in the matter.
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The Canary News
500 migrants are still pending medical determination of whether they are adults or minors
Around 500 migrants, who arrived irregularly to the Canary Islands archipelago, from the African continent, are still pending medical determination of whether they are adults or minors, reports the Canary Islands Minister of Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Julio Pérez .
This was stated in the parliamentary committee, in response to a question from Deputy Jana María González, who pointed out that there are significant delays in conducting tests to determine the age of migrants who arrive to our shores undocumented, leaving the authorities with no sure way to know if they are adults or minors, under 18 years of age.
The deputy stated that up to 75% of those minors, under guardianship in the Canary Islands, have not yet been able to have the bone age determination test, adding that the obstacle is with the health department and in the performance of radiographic tests, to which she added there is a lack of resources and that this methodology is not entirely valid.
8 years
13 years
18 years
In his response, Julio Pérez indicated that the resources requested by the Prosecutor’s Office have already been increased and assured that the delays are being caused by the complexity of the evidence itself. He also said that the Canary Islands received almost 1,800 minors over the last year and that not all of them are in doubt.
He also clarified that there is no alternative methodology because that could contradict constitutional and legal requirements and legal claims. “It is not an action that we think can be simplified. We have done everything possible, but what we are not going to do is rush, because we are trying to determine a condition on which the future of a person depends,” said Perez.
The numbers quoted above appear a little confusing, when checked against the data being given out around the start of February, when it was claimed that more than 2,600 unaccompanied minors had arrived by boat in the last year, and that 600 or so had carried documentation verifying their ages, which mean around 2,000 individuals required testing. From this number it was suspected that between 300 and 600 individuals could in fact be adults, and so they were to be prioritised for testing, starting with the most troublesome of the suspect adults. The Department for Social Rights at that point claimed they could achieve about 100 tests a week. This week they have announced that they are continuing with the testing, which has already shown that adults are hiding among the children.
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March 17 set for the launch of EU Digital Green Pass unifying freedom of movement requirements
EU Digital Green Pass is set to debut on March 17 2021 – Last week, MEPs were already advocating common criteria for “safe and clean” tourism travel within the EU. And, they say, these criteria should include a common vaccination certificate. On February 25, the Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the draft resolution on the establishment of an EU strategy for sustainable tourism. Today, March 1, the European Commission has set the day, to propose an initiative focused on travel and mobility for EU citizens. Ireland’s national day, March 17, on Saint Patrick’s Day the “EU Digital Green Pass”, a European health passport, will be presented.
COVID-19 Vaccination Information
We’ll present this month a legislative proposal for a Digital Green Pass. The aim is to provide:
•Proof that a person has been vaccinated
•Results of tests for those who couldn’t get a vaccine yet
•Info on COVID19 recovery
It will respect data protection, security & privacy
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 1, 2021
Both the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the vice president, Margaritis Schinas, have announced this legislative proposal for an EU Digital Green Pass through their social network accounts. Explaining that these EU Digital Green Pass will include the following information:
Proof that a person has been vaccinated.
Test results for those who could not yet get vaccinated.
Information on recovering from COVID-19Of course, they have clarified that this passport will respect “data protection, security and privacy . ” And, all this, to achieve a safe reopening of mobility within the EU.
A uniform travel protocol
“The Digital Green Pass should make life easier for Europeans. The aim is to allow them to gradually move safely within the European Union or abroad, for work or tourism,” said Von der Leyen.
“With summer just around the corner, we want to avoid past mistakes and apply uniform travel measures, such as an EU protocol for pre-departure tests, a vaccination certificate and a European health stamp,” said the Portuguese MEP Cláudia Aguiar in the European Parliament last week.
How will the vaccination certificates work?
“A common approach to ‘pharmacovigilance’, with a view to reliable and verifiable vaccination certificates across the EU, could enhance the success of vaccination programs in Member States and the confidence of citizens” the European Commission points out in reference to the introduction of vaccination passports.
Emphasising that vaccination certificates could be useful, for example, in the context of travel, to demonstrate that the person has been vaccinated and, therefore, it is possible that they do not need to undergo any type of test or quarantine upon arrival in another country.
The European Commission, Member States and WHO are working together on vaccination certificates. This work includes “a minimum set of data, with a unique identifier, for each individual vaccination, which facilitates the issuance of certificates and the monitoring of vaccination at the European level from the moment when vaccines against COVID-19 are authorised.″.
EU funds are available to support the creation of immunisation information systems, digital health records and secondary use of immunisation health data.
We have a new partnership with Southern Neighbourhood countries.
We fight this pandemic together. The EU mobilised €2.3 billion for their health & economic recovery.
And to give perspectives to its youth, in the long term, we propose an Investment Plan for the region. pic.twitter.com/da2LrZNsut
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2021
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The Canary News
Spain urges European Commission toward European vaccination certificate to guarantee safe travel
Spain has urged the European Commission (EC) to accelerate the introduction of a European vaccination certificate, as a “useful and effective” tool to resume mobility in a safe way and guarantee safe travel.
At the meeting of European Union Ministers of Tourism, the Spanish Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, urged the EC to develop an ambitious program for the recovery of EU community tourism under the new budgetary framework that allows Europe to continue being a tourism industry reference throughout the world.
The minister proposed the development of digital instruments for interoperable health information among States be accelerated, including the European vaccination certificate to facilitate mobility interrupted by the pandemic. In addition, she said that it is necessary to advance the adoption of common protocols in all Member States to avoid prohibitions on the movement of travellers within the internal market, as well as with third countries, especially in the case of the United Kingdom, since coordination in this matter will be essential to guarantee the gradual recovery of tourism.
Maroto insisted that it is important to have the tools ready to restart mobility, and to return Europe to being a safe travel destination when the data on the incidence of the virus allow it. Likewise, she advocated for expanding the Regulation of Extension by Categories of aid compatible with the internal market to reinforce the framework of state aid and favour aid schemes focused on the solvency of tourism companies, who will take longer than other economic sectors to recover their activity.
COVID-19 vaccination passports have been talked about for some time, particularly in The Canary Islands where we received the first pilot flight for “Health Passports” last summer and introduced Certification protocols for tourism accommodations, and more recently have been exploring the ways in which European vaccination passports might be implemented. While our primary season is still 9 months away, the summer may well provide us with an opportunity to really put all that learning to work to help ensure the very best of hospitality and safety for our returning visitors.
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Río de Janeiro strain of COVID-19 not of immediate concern in Canary Islands, where data trends continue positively
A Government report yesterday, from the Spanish Ministry of Health, caused some concern here on The Canary Islands when, among its many findings, it was noticed to include a statement regarding the P2 Río de Janeiro strain of SARS-CoV-2, due to nine out of the eleven cases of that particular variants having been detected here in the archipelago. Closer examination of the report and the information contained within it, verified through local sources, have in fact shown that though this data is correct there is no concern whatsoever among the authorities as all nine of these cases appear to have been part of a known cluster in a closed outbreak that occurred within one hospital ward on Gran Canaria, and therefore is not thought to have been transmitted into the general population.
Basically, there was no reason for concern. The data used for the government report is part of an ongoing, nationwide project to track variants for analysis and help to determine the spread of variants throughout Spain.
The Microbiology service at Tenerife’s Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital, working with the Ministry of Health, has been carrying out genomic sequencing, so far, on a total of 812 samples of positive coronavirus cases, as part of a research project that has resulted in their having identified a total of 159 positive samples of the British variant (B.1.1.7) and 2 of the Brazilian variant (classified as P.1 and P.2), both detected over this past weekend, and so included in the latest data.
According to the results of the study, 19.6% of the samples analyzed between December 18 and February 22 were positive for the British variant whereas 0.24% contained the variant first found in Brazil, while the rest were described as coming from the original parent strain with no currently known impacts on the biology of SARS-CoV-2.
Spain’s Ministry of Health and the various regional autonomous communities are working to agree on national criteria to carry out sampling that provides epidemiological information on the incidence of the new variants of SARS-Cov2 in Spain, the results of this research study are currently only available for The Canary Islands.
Additionally, Ministry of Health, in Madrid, published a report only yesterday on the epidemiological situation with the British variant B.1.1.7 of SARS-CoV-2, as well as other variants of interest, where it states that the Canary Islands currently has 3 cases of variant B.1.1.7 (in samples sent from the Dr. Negrín Hospital, on Gran Canaria, and sequenced at the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research (FISABIO), in Valencia), as well as 46 cases detected through informal sources, similar to the cases reported by the Microbiology Service of the Hospital de la Candelaria, and 9 cases of variant P2, the Río de Janeiro strain.
These 9 positive samples of the P2 variant correspond to samples sent by the Dr. Negrín University Hospital on Gran Canaria and sequenced at FISABIO, Valencia (whose labs have so far sequenced more than 5,000 samples), within the collaborative project named “SeqCOVID“. Within the framework of this research project, samples received at the Microbiology Laboratory have been sent from the Hospital Dr. Negrín since March 2020. SeqCOVID has been working to sequence every strain detected in Spain to allow timely information regarding the spread of variants and mutations throughout Spain and The Canary Islands. With the help of various labs across Spain the project has so far managed to sequence over 7,000 samples of the more than 18,000 that have been sent for study, and the project continues allowing Spain’s ministry of health to map the incidence of dominant strains over time.
From the samples sent so far, the 9 confirmed to be the P2 variant have been identified, as belonging to a closed in-hospital outbreak back in December 2020.
Simply put, that means that the Río de Janeiro strain is not wild out in the community and therefore less of a concern
To date, the P2 variant has not been included in any priority lists, its frequency in Brazil is still not clear, and its epidemiological or clinical effects are unknown. These samples are still going through the process of epidemiological verification, and they were analyzed in the context of a virological scientific study.
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The Canary News
Canary Islands are evaluating the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination passport, but there are doubts
Toni Ferrera writes about the idea of a COVID-19 vaccination passport, in the independent CanariasAhora regional edition for ElDiaro.es. – Translation, interpretation and Extra reporting: Edward Timon, TheCanaryNews.com
The Canary Islands are evaluating the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination passport in their efforts to relaunch the ailing Islands tourism sector. The Regional Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, headed up by Yaiza Castilla, has reportedly submitted an official query to the Health department to determine the viability of such an initiative.
Last summer the Canary Islands became the first holiday destination in the world to announce trials of “Safe Tourism” electronic certificates which then led to the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, and Spain’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, flying to Gran Canaria on July 8 to demonstrate the Canary Islands as a safe tourism destination with the first official flight of its kind promoting safe tourism to Spain in a post pandemic era. Of course there have been two more waves of COVID-19 restrictions since then, but Castilla, the regional minister responsible for Tourism has never taken her eye off the prize.
There is said to be two major overarching considerations in such a project, one is the clear boost it could give to a faltering economy, suffering double the rate of losses of most other regions in Spain and this type of initiative could provide the necessary lifting of spirits needed for the Archipelago’s hotels and hospitality industries, so greatly damaged as the various pandemic restrictions have made these businesses impossible to maintain. Secondly, however, the application of a “COVID-19 vaccination passport” scheme raises serious doubts along with various scientific and ethical questions as to the implementation and standards that would have to be applied to make it work.
Reyes Moroto
Reyes Maroto, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism for the central Government of Spain, has made clear the intentions from Madrid. “We are working to have common vaccination passports within the scope of the European Commission. With the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) we are also working on initiatives to guarantee safe travel”. The minister spoke again this Monday saying “As we move forward, we will give more information about the groups to which it will be applied, not only to those vaccinated, but also to be able to incorporate this vaccination certificate for mobility of other groups.”
The Balearic Islands has offered itself as a “test” to study this new electronic COVID-19 vaccination passport. Madeira has announced the creation of a green corridor for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered from the disease. And the Canary Islands, according to statements made by Regional President Ángel Víctor Torres, in an interview with the newspaper El Mundo, has put the project on the table. “It is necessary to find mechanisms so that those who are vaccinated can travel. We must agree on a global level so that we do not waste time. That there begins to be mobility to enjoy tourism is key ”, insists Torres.
Sources within the regional government consulted by CanariasAhora have assured them that there is still some uncertainty on this issue and so it is in the embryonic phase. It is known that vaccines significantly reduce the possibility of suffering the most serious symptoms of the disease (in fact, on the Islands hospitalisations of those over 80 years of age, due to COVID-19, have begun to drastically decrease). But it is still too early to conclude that they also prevent contagion. In other words, given the lack of studies and the short time that has passed since the start of the mass vaccination roll out, there is no certainty that immunised people are prevented from transmitting the virus. So prudence is demanded when it comes to any sort of COVID-19 vaccination passport. “This is something recent, and it would not be a panacea [cure-all] either. While it is seen as a desirable measure, the Health Department has not yet formed an opinion. Furthermore, the ideal would be for the European Union to establish a common criterion ” added those sources.
The FEHT tourism association president, José María Mañaricúa, of the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas, says that he believes that “the only certainty” that will allow us to reactivate tourism is to achieve group immunity. And that a vaccination passport would only be effective if it was agreed upon by the EU and the Member States. “If Brussels makes a joint decision, it will have value. If not, it will fall on deaf ears again”.
Mañaricúa points out that there is a the lack of control with respect to border restrictions and the regulation of diagnostic tests. The European Union has positioned itself on several occasions with regard to taking protective measures against the virus. But when it has, it has been in the form of a recommendation, without insisting on a decisions from the Twenty-seven member states. So, thus far, we see that a year since the pandemic broke out, each country decrees, according to its own criteria, whether or not a PCR is necessary to enter (even requiring, in the case of the United Kingdom, up to three negative tests), and that each government draws up its own blacklists. This, in Mañaricúa’s opinion, would not make sense with the vaccination passport. “The safe corridors thing didn’t work out. Then came the PCR. We have been misled several times. If the European Union makes a joint decision for everyone, we would welcome this proposal. But so far, we don’t know what will happen” he adds.
Several countries have not waited and are already closing bilateral agreements to speed up the mobility of vaccinated people. Greece and Cyprus, for example, have announced that they will allow citizens of Israel with vaccination certificates (their version of the COVID-19 vaccination passport, the “green pass,” as they have called it), to travel between countries without hindrance in an attempt to normalise pandemic tourism. Spain is apparently open to similar deals: “The debate is very young and these corridors will not come into force for a couple of months. We want to exploit all possibilities, but we do not rule out anything. Our emphasis is on broad multilateral agreements, for which we have the support of Israel, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland ”, say sources from the Spanish Foreign Ministry, talking to elDiario.es.
Now that the subject has once again been broached, there are doubts and expert voices both for and against this idea. The head of the Canary Islands Epidemiology and Prevention section of the General Directorate of Public Health, along with the president of the Spanish Association for Vaccination, Amós García, does not yet fully back the idea, offering three reasons: we do not know if the vaccine prevents infection and therefore cuts the transmission of the disease; the vaccine is not mandatory, so how are we going to force someone to get it?; and only those individuals from rich countries have sufficient access to doses of the vaccine, so “we would be creating another gap between rich states and poor states.” Furthermore, minors, who have not been tested in clinical trials, would also be excluded. “Professionally, I don’t understand it,” sums up García when assessing the scale of the task.
María del Carmen de la Fuente Hontañón, vice president of the Spanish Association of Bioethics and Medical Ethics, shares this point of view, although above all she asks for prudence and demands to know the full nature of the epidemic before accelerating anything. “It is important to remember that not all people respond the same to this virus. A passport like this does not capture the current state of science. We do not have instruments to understand the contagion capacity of a person when they contract COVID-19. I am in favor of a PCR before entering countries, but not of a lifetime accreditation”.
On February 5, the World Health Organization made public its provisional position, placing itself against the idea of COVID-19 vaccination passport and quoting various scientific, health, ethical and legal reasons. The WHO pointed out that the efficacy of vaccines continues to be surrounded by “unknowns”: if it limits transmission, if it is effective against new variants, the duration of immunity, etc. The recommendations, they point out, will be made as the vaccination campaign progresses. “The reality is multifaceted. You have to be very cautious and not at all simplistic. It is essential to know how each one is doing and the immune status of each patient, because this virus varies a lot, “added Fuente.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) also distrusts the “insufficient evidence on the efficacy of vaccines in reducing transmission” of the virus. Although they do support vaccination certificates that document who has been immunised, when and with what vaccine, but exclusively for “medical purposes.”
On the ethical side, the WHO notes that there is limited access to vaccines throughout the world, mainly in developing countries. More than 90% of the countries that are launching vaccination against the coronavirus are wealthy. “In the current context, introducing this requirement has the potential to hamper equitable global access to a limited supply of vaccines and is unlikely to maximize the benefits of vaccination for individual societies and overall global health,” the WHO says.
It is also not entirely clear whether state restrictions on individual freedoms should be imposed. At least that is the debate raised by the Public Law professors, Íñigo de Miguel Beirán and Jon Rueda, of the University of the Basque Country, in an article published in the BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics entitled Immunity passports: fundamental rights and public health hazards, who advocate the adopting of perspectives from the point of view of the immunised. Arguing that while “the possibility that immunological passports may appear to discriminate against those who do not possess them, the opposite viewpoint of immune people is underdeveloped. We argue that if a person has been tested positive for and recovered from COVID-19, becoming immune to it, she cannot be considered a hazard to public health and, therefore, the curtailment of her fundamental rights (eg, the right to freedom of movement) is not legitimate.”
Germany’s Ethical Council, which includes experts in Law, Medicine and Philosophy, believes that it would be “unacceptable” to withdraw protection measures from a few because “the possibility cannot be excluded with sufficient certainty” that inoculated people continue to spread the virus. A study from Israel, where vaccination has already reached more than three million citizens, indicates that the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine stops transmission by up to 89.4%. Of course, more evidence is still needed, according to Zoe McLaren, associate professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, United States, speaking to Bloomberg .
Still, The Economist, at the end of January published that more than two-thirds of British people would be willing to approve a vaccination passport. Though as CanariasAhora points out, this is a perspective from a country where tourism is not as directly important to the economy as it is in the Canary Islands, where four out of ten jobs are directly related to the sector and whose activity accounts for 35% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
For now, the jury is out on whether The Canary Islands will be able to spearhead any sort of Vaccine Passport arrangements, but there are clearly a lot of people trying to figure out how such a scheme might work across European Borders and for that matter throughout the world, effectively, ethically and safely.
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