It is as though Spain's latest reality show - "Operation New Normality" - has celebrated its final gala session of eliminations. This Friday's weekly presentation from the Spanish government's Moncloa palace explaining which Spanish health regions and provinces will progress to the next phase of coronavirus de-escalation has ended with the vast majority of the state either moving to Phase 3 or already there. In Catalonia, Girona and Catalunya Central have now been allowed to make that jump. And although the minister obviously didn't use the word, there is a "winner": it has been decided that, as of Monday, the entire autonomous community of Galicia will be the first to enter the so-called new normality - the end stage which comes after Phase 3.
From next Monday, then, the de-escalation map of Catalonia will show Girona and Catalunya Central embarking on the final step, Phase 3. They will join Terres de l'Ebre, Camp de Tarragona and the Alt Pirineu i l'Aran, which moved to Phase 3 this week. However, Spain's state of alarm decree, and therefore the phase system which is based on centralised control by the Spanish government, will expire during next weekend - at midnight on Saturday 20th. From then on, the decisions revert to the autonomous communities. Much of Spain is likely to enter what has been dubbed the "new normality" - but it will be up to the autonomous communities to make the rules, and to continue or even re-impose restrictions on areas where it is deemed necessary under health criteria.
Today, the Spanish health ministry accepted the Catalan health authorities' proposal: Barcelona and its metropolitan area, along with the health region of Lleida will remain in Phase 2. The Catalan government does not rule out asking for a change of phase for these regions in the middle of next week if evolution progresses well. Then on Sunday 21st, the decision-making power on the status of all health areas - in Catalonia and the rest of the state - will pass to the autonomous communities.
Another change is to take place this coming Monday for much of Catalonia: mobility between Catalan health regions that are in Phase 3 has been accepted. In these territories, the competent delegated authority will already be Catalan president Quim Torra.
As for the phase changes in the rest of the Spanish state, the Valencian Country will also progress fully to Phase 3, as well as several provinces in Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and Ceuta. The rest of Spain is already in this phase, leaving still in Phase 2 only Community of Madrid and four provinces of Castilla y León (as well as the two sections of Catalonia). And the four north-western provinces that make up the nation of Galicia will now move to the end point, the "new normality", and the state of alarm there will come to an end this Sunday night.
As of Monday morning, some 34 million Spaniards, around three quarters of the population, will be in Phase 3.
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