Guardia Civil stop Easter travel

THE Spanish Traffic Directorate (DGT) have said that police patrols and other measures will be significantly increased over Easter to stop people travelling to their holiday homes. Overall, road use is down by 95% and most are staying at home but there has still been a steady stream of people travelling from places such as Madrid to the Costas and elsewhere, defying the law and bringing the threat of taking the coronavirus with them. There is also an increased strain on local resources, from healthcare to retailers. These measures are already underway and there were 500 patrols over the weekend, both fixed and mobile. 130 people were sanctioned for leaving their main place of residence without good reason. Unlike in previous years controls will actually be increased at night as it is believed many will try to avoid the authorities by travelling at that time. In some regions such as Asturias the governing parties have asked residents to report incomers immediately, in particular those travelling to second homes. A hospital in Catalonia said that 20% of the people they treated last weekend were not local residents, a major strain on resources. Other ways of detecting people planning to travel has been calls to local cleaning services to get houses ready.