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A leaked draft of new lockdown regulations being prepared by the Spanish government begins to define the economic activities which are classed as essential, a necessary step in order to stop all other work, reports Spanish radio network Cadena Ser. The draft clearly follows the lines of the measures of total lockdown proposed by Catalan president Quim Torra two weeks ago, which Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez did not accept. Everything indicates that this further step to combat the spread of coronavirus in the Spanish state will finally be taken, after 15 days of less stringent restrictions and with their public health consequences.

According to Cadena Ser, the PSOE-Podemos coalition government is preparing an order from the country's ministry of industry that restricts the list of so-called "essential or special activities". It is an eight-page ministerial order that, if implemented, will in practice mean the closing of activities currently open, including industry, construction and factories.

The order has already been prepared as a "draft" and, according to sources in the Spanish executive, would be focused on only maintaining in operation three essential activity areas in the primary and secondary sectors:

  • Cultivation, fishing, livestock, agriculture and other branches of the primary sector.
  • Work textiles and clothes especially oriented for protection of healthcare workers.
  • Manufacture of pharmaceutical chemicals or equipment that can be used for medical or therapeutic supply.

In total, there are 51 exceptions to the closure order contemplated in these areas, which are listed in the Annex of the document. In addition, the order provides for other exceptions which would be necessary to keep these sectors operating: quality control, maintenance, repair in the above essential services; professional services, sales of materials, logistical services, vehicle repair and maintenance services which are required for the functioning of the above essential activities.

Under the draft plan, other economic activities are to be shut down to further limit social contact in factories and jobs. The paper is centred on industrial activity.

The ministerial order in the draft form that has been leaked is 8 pages long, says SER.

With regard to supply of food, the order states that, as already established in the state of alarm decree of 14th March, the authorities will take the measures necessary to guarantee the food supply to the population, but does not enter into detail. Also pending is what will happen with utility services, such as telephone, gas, water and electricity.