Speech by President of the Government of Spain following meeting with President of Regional Government of Madrid

Royal House of the Post Office, Madrid

Good day everyone.

Firstly, I would like to thank the President of the Regional Government of Madrid for her hospitality, together with the presence of the Vice-President of the Regional Government of Madrid and the Government Delegate, and acknowledge the work that the teams at both Moncloa, of Central Government, and also of the Regional Government of Madrid, have performed to ensure that this very important meeting, which is so necessary for all of the people of Madrid, went ahead in the way it has, and this has been a fruitful, constructive and positive meeting.

I would also like to thank the media for their presence at this press briefing, albeit by video-conference.

And as I have said before, I stated to the President of the Regional Government of Madrid that the presence of the Government of Spain at this Real Casa de Correos (Royal Post Office) corresponds to the government's interest in helping, collaborating and offering support. We are not here to make assessments, to judge or to evaluate; but to support, collaborate and help in everything in the State's hands; in this case, it is in the hands of Central Government to guarantee the public health of the people of Madrid.

In short, I am here to bring the people of Madrid the support, the backing and the help of the Spanish people.

As you are aware, since the outbreak of the pandemic, Central Government has been saying that we can only defeat this virus on a united front, and today the President of the Regional Government of Madrid and I agreed on this. I also welcome the fact that today our two tiers of government are fully aware that we are in the midst of an epidemiological struggle, rather than an ideological struggle.

Consequently, the most important thing is to focus on one sole objective, which is what all of our people agree on, which is precisely to flatten this second curve, and consequently keep the virus at bay. I am convinced that we are going to achieve this, as we did with the first wave.

At this meeting, we have reviewed the measures proposed by the Regional Government of Madrid, at an Extraordinary Regional Government meeting held last Friday and which come into force today. As I said before, our role, the role of Central Government, is not to pass judgement.

But I do want to express to all our people what I said to the President of the Regional Government of Madrid, which is our heartfelt wish that these measures are sufficient to halt the pandemic, to flatten the curve and reverse the trend we are all clearly seeing with concern. The virus is hitting the whole of Spain; it is also hitting Madrid and it demands sacrifices by all institutions and also requires the responsibility of all our people.

We will defeat the virus through an exercise in solidarity and unity between us all. The north and south, the east and west, of the Region of Madrid must act on a united front to halt the transmission and flatten the curve.

I also stated to the Regional President that Central Government hopes that these initial measures agreed by the Regional Government of Madrid achieve the results sought. But that we must also be ready, and we are, to consider other scenarios should this become necessary.

This is a situation that is already provided for within the framework of the Early Response Plan that the Ministry of Health and the regional health councillors approved at the Inter-territorial Health Council in mid-July, which precisely established this contingency plan depending on the epidemiological scenario that could emerge in the regions.

This Early Response Plan is, in short, the national strategy that all the institutions have come up with, approved unanimously at an Inter-territorial Council in the month of July and which, consequently, provides us with a framework to offer an effective response to this virus.

We have also agreed, and I feel it is important to underline this, that a joint COVID-19 Working Group should begin to work immediately between the two tiers of government to evaluate the situation of the pandemic in the coming days and weeks.

This will be made up of the two authorities, and will meet on a weekly basis, the aim of which is to strictly monitor the events and the indices in the Region of Madrid, and implement such measures as are necessary to flatten the curve with determination.

This group will work based on the principle of cooperation, I wish to underline it; this is a principle of cooperation, not of hierarchy.

The intention of Central Government is to respect the jurisdictional powers of all regional governments, in this case, of the Regional Government of Madrid. And consequently, I reiterate that we are here to help and offer support. We are not here to oversee, evaluate, and much less to take over an authority that has its powers perfectly recognised in the law and in the Spanish Constitution.

As you know, the Working Group will be made up, on the part of Central Government, by the Minister for Health and the Minister for Territorial Policy and Public Function. On the part of the regional government, as you know, it will be made up of the Regional Health Councillor and by the Vice-President of the Regional Government of Madrid.

This COVID-19 Working Group will have a technical health spokesperson to attend to requests for information from the media and the public.

And this group will logically receive advice from the Alerts and Emergency Coordination Centre of the Ministry of Health and also from the health technicians of the Regional Government of Madrid.

Two structures will underpin the work of this bilateral group.

Firstly, the Territorial Unit, and I feel it is important to underline this, will include important parties in managing the situation, which are the local authorities, particularly the City Council of Madrid.

And secondly, the Technical Unit, which will include the State law enforcement agencies and the Emergency Military Unit.

We have agreed, at any event, that in order to reverse the situation, we must indubitably step up all efforts on a health front, we must also strengthen the contact tracing resources and we must strengthen the primary care system, which must be the first and main contention dam.

Madrid, as you know, is one of the hardest hit areas, unfortunately, at this time. The figures are that the number of transmissions is double the national average, unfortunately, and the number of beds occupied in hospital wards and in intensive care is three times the national average.

And I say this because I believe that by holding this meeting and this press briefing, we are enhancing the visibility of something important, which is what I want to convey now, which is that Madrid, because of its own characteristics, requires a special plan, a Madrid Plan, which is what we are going to introduce within the framework of this bilateral group.

We have thus come here to offer Central Government's support in implementing this Special Madrid Plan. We have come here to help the people of Madrid and the Region of Madrid.

And, as President of the Government, I have conveyed to the President of the Regional Government of Madrid that we can contribute many things in this fight - additional contact tracing resources, disinfection resources, logistical resources, healthcare resources, resources to strengthen the capacity of hospitals, advice, which is also important, from the major national bodies - there you have the Carlos III Health Institute, and also the Alerts and Emergencies Coordination Centre, the legal support we always provide the regional governments with, and legal services should they prove necessary, police resources as well… And everything, in short, that the Regional Government of Madrid considers necessary to flatten the curve, which is the common goal of both tiers of government.

These capacities, which have been calculated over recent days, include many servicemen, health workers and police officers that will be firmed up at the first meeting of the COVID-19 Working Group, which will be held, if I understand correctly, this very afternoon, and I also set out to the President of the Regional Government of Madrid that these State resources can and must be complemented by civilian and municipal resources, precisely to strengthen primary care, including at weekends, isolation and quarantine measures to take in those people infected who require this.

To end, I would like to pass on a message, not just to the people of Madrid, but to the whole country, which is that this pandemic is serious, as the Ministry of Health points out in the campaign we have implemented over recent days; that this is not a game. We are faced with the second wave, which clearly has different characteristics to the first wave. What that means is that it is less lethal, less fast-moving, but it still remains dangerous.

We must all follow the basic rules to not become a vector to spread the virus, but to contain it.

And there you have the three keys - face coverings, hand washing and maintaining a distance of two metres.

And those people who, due to their age, feel safe should be aware that the virus can also affect them, and even if it does not affect them, they can still become a vector for its spread that can affect their loved ones who are more susceptible to the virus.

In short, unity prevents its spread and saves lives. And I am convinced that today we have taken a very important step forward in Madrid, in the collaboration that has existed in the region, in the same way as all other regions with Central Government, through the Ministry of Health.

The Government of Spain has been applying the same principle since the outbreak of the pandemic, which is the unity of everyone, of both institutions and of society as a whole. I thus propose that we swiftly progress down this path of unity, of collaboration and institutional cooperation. I am convinced that this is how we will flatten the curve, that we will achieve this, and that although we have some complicated and difficult weeks ahead of us we will manage to flatten the curve, and keep the virus at bay in the Region of Madrid, and that united, as the President of the Regional Government of Madrid and I have been today, we will achieve this sooner rather than later.

Thank you very much again, Regional President, for your hospitality, for receiving me at this Royal Post Office, which has great pedigree in the history of Madrid, and the history of our country and, in summary, I believe that we have a lot of work to do now, but that this will be very fruitful and positive, as the meeting we have just held has had. 

Q6A SESSION

Question: Carolina Moya from Telemadrid. Good afternoon to you both, my first question is for Pedro Sánchez. I wanted to know whether, at such a complicated time as the Region of Madrid is experiencing, and you have just said that these measures have now been firmed up, I understood that, but I would like to know if you can specify, for example, the number of contact tracers and, as the Regional President asked, if the State law enforcement agencies will be present in the 37 health districts with restrictions as from today, and whether you could specify a little more what these measures will be that the people of Madrid will receive aside from this forum for cooperation that will meet this afternoon for the first time.

President of the Government: Thank you very much Carolina for your question. The Government of Spain and the regional governments have been cooperating since the outbreak of the pandemic, in different ways, firstly through the state of emergency, with the Conferences of Regional Presidents, and then through the Inter-territorial Councils that have been held weekly under the authority of Minister Illa, the Minister for Health, together with the regional health councillors of the different regional governments.

As a result of this cooperation, of this collaboration, you have, for example, the economic resources that we have made available to the regional governments - 16 billion euros, of which 1.5 billion euros, in round numbers, correspond to the Region of Madrid this year to invest in public health, and 252 million euros in education. Hence, from the point of view of economic resources this year, as the President of the Regional Government of Madrid rightly mentioned earlier, we can say that the situation is covered; clearly the debate is over resources as from next year. We have also made legal resources available, and we have even authorised the regional state of emergency, and it clearly falls to the regional governments, under technical criteria, to decide if they want to employ this resource or not. And finally, as I said in my opening speech, over the course of July, we also introduced, I said this in my opening speech, we unanimously approved at the Inter-territorial Council, an Early Response Plan to the spread of the epidemic, depending on the region. Hence, this communication, this cooperation, has been developed in a fairly optimal fashion during these months.

It is clear that, as I mentioned in my opening speech, Madrid has some specific features that other regions do not have, and this is not down to the regional government but as a result of communications, of infrastructures, of the fact that Madrid is the economic and business heart of the country; in short, the density of the population and many other elements that make the Region of Madrid singular in this regard, which is why I believe that it is important to implement a special plan for Madrid and precisely what we are doing today by holding this meeting, both the Regional President and I, is to convey to our people that we will unite, that we are united, to flatten the curve, and that our goal is clear and firm, which is to save lives, to defend public health, to cooperate, to collaborate, to help, in short, to offer certainty, to provide guarantees, to instil calm in the residents who rightly feel very concerned at this time in light of the figures on the spread of the virus in the Region of Madrid, and that is what we are doing by setting up this strengthened cooperation instrument - this Working Group.

I feel that, furthermore, the step we are taking is very important and that perhaps in the public debate, the participation of the mayors of the Region of Madrid, particularly the Mayor of Madrid at this forum, has been a little overshadowed, since I feel that the assistance of the local authorities is also important to manage COVID and hence the proposal we have made to the Regional Government of Madrid is to provide all the resources that may be necessary to flatten the curve. From the point of view of legal resources, this has been done, from the point of view of the armed forces this has been done, with 2,750 contact tracers made available throughout the country. We have offered this provision from the armed forces to the Regional Government of Madrid and the latter must now say, according to their powers, how many contact tracers they need, but this desire and this intent exists, and also from the point of view of what the President of the Regional Government of Madrid pointed out regarding the cleaning of road networks, etc. by the armed forces. Clearly the State law enforcement agencies will get involved to maintain compliance with measures that are painful and difficult but very necessary to halt this upward curve of contagions, and finally, from the point of view of a message of unity that both tiers of government are conveying today, which is definitive. This is the path, this is the way we have been taking for some months now, but today much more visibly, and in this regard I would like to thank the regional government for its willing, and the Regional President, for holding this meeting in this way, and convey to all the people of Madrid that we are here because we have the same goal, which is to keep the virus at bay, to defend the public health of the people of Madrid and save lives.

Question: Fátima Caballero from Eldiario.es. Do you feel that the current measures are sufficient, taking into account the lack of contact tracers and primary healthcare workers at this time?

President of the Government: Thank you very much Fátima for your question. I said this in my opening speech and I have been saying this time and again since this meeting was announced, which is that we are not here to assess or oversee, but to support; we have come here to coordinate actions with the Regional Government of Madrid, which has jurisdiction on health matters, as in so many other, as the President of the Regional Government of Madrid mentioned, such as education, and hence the only thing the government wants and hopes, and this is heartfelt, because we have the same aim of defending public health, of saving lives, the only thing that Central Government truly hopes is that these measures have the desired effect, and achieve the goal of flattening the curve, of reversing the trend of the spread of the virus in the Region of Madrid, and that consequently, after some tough weeks ahead of us, the epidemiological situation in Madrid will come under control.

Aside from that, it is clear that the Working Group that will start work today will also be put at the disposition of the Regional Government of Madrid, which, by the way, is comprised of some extraordinary healthcare professionals with outstanding technical abilities, and I wish to underline that, and we will make everything available that is related to the Ministry of Health, with technical resources and advice, but, in summary, it is the Regional Government of Madrid that will need to take these decisions that correspond to its jurisdiction but we will help in whatever we are able to, and what the President of the Regional Government of Madrid said seems very important to me, which is to focus resources, deploy the State law enforcement agencies, and the contact tracers in everything related to primary care, to hospital care, in short, to all areas of care, which is primordial to flatten the curve and keep the virus at bay.

In summary, the disposition of Central Government is absolute, we have come here to collaborate and help. Those who wanted to see a confrontation at this critical time for the country as a whole and also for the Region of Madrid will go away with their hands empty, because we are here to help, to collaborate with one single goal, which is to defend public health, in this case of the people of Madrid, which also means defending the public health of the country as a whole.

Question: Carlos Cue from the daily newspaper El País. I wanted to ask the two leaders about the figures we have, with Spain recording the worst figures in Europe. What has Spain done wrong in the last few months? And in particular about the state of emergency that has not been proposed. Pedro Sánchez has spoken about other scenarios. Have you offered the Regional President the possibility of requesting a state of emergency, and if so, did the Regional President reject it and why?

President of the Government: Thank you very much, Carlos. Firstly, I have not offered the President of the Regional Government of Madrid a state of emergency today; I have offered the state of emergency to all the regional presidents some weeks ago, and it falls to hem, by virtue of their jurisdiction to decide whether to opt for this path or not; what we have spoken about, and started to set in motion today is the creation of a bilateral COVID-19 Working Group, with the presence of the Minister for Health, and also with the presence of the Government Delegate in relation to the State law enforcement agencies, and also with the presence of the Regional Government of Madrid to agree on criteria, and to work together, each in their respective spheres of jurisdiction, to flatten the curve, and that does not necessarily need to be through a state of emergency, there are many other instruments, and I stress, this depends on the Regional Government of Madrid in this case, to opt for one path or another.

Any of them which, according to Central Government and also to the technicians of the Ministry of Health, are effective. What has been done right and what has been done wrong? Look, I feel that if we have learned anything from this pandemic and in all these weeks since the month of March, all countries, all governments, whether regional, municipal or national, as is my case, is that we must be sufficiently humble to be aware that the virus will only be definitively defeated when science gives us a response in the form of a vaccine or in the form of a therapeutic treatment, and until such time what we must do is all work on a united front, side-by-side.

The great lesson, the great hope that can be taken away from this pandemic in the future of what may happen in Spanish politics is the unity of institutions over a common cause, which is to flatten the curve and defeat a common enemy, which is the virus. When we speak about the current situation in Spain, or the current situation in the Region of Madrid, let's not forget that this is not a still photograph and that we are seeing that the second wave, with effects in Spain and in Europe. It is true that in some countries, like Spain and France, this second curve is rising much more quickly than in other countries, but, as I have said on other occasions, if we compare this curve in Spain with the first wave in March, I feel there are major differences that say a lot about the response by the healthcare professionals and also by institutions as a whole.

Starting with the regional institutions, in the month of March, we only detected one in every 10 cases in our country, which some people seem to forget. Spain carried out a seroprevalence study in collaboration with the regional governments, headed up by the Carlos III Health Institute, which showed that in the first wave in our country, some 2.5 million people in Spain were affected, but we only recorded 230,000 transmissions, thanks to the PCR tests and the efforts institutions deployed. We were only detecting one case in 10. We are now detecting many more, at least six in 10. So we have a much more precise snapshot of the spread of the epidemic. That is why the number of asymptomatic people in higher - four in 10 - that we are detecting at this time; that is why the average age is lower - at around 35 years of age - when in the first wave this stood at 60 years of age; the rate of fatalities is much lower, below 1% when it stood above 10% in the first wave; in short, there are no magical solutions to defeat the virus except those provided by science when a vaccine or a therapeutic remedy is discovered.

What we must do until then is deploy all our capacities, with humility, which is what we have clearly been doing today, with the Regional Government of Madrid, and what we have been doing over these long recent months, with a tremendous effort and sacrifice on the part of our people. We must now step up this cooperation, in some very specific territories, with very specific characteristics, as is the case of the Region of Madrid, which is why we are setting in motion this Special Plan for Madrid. Madrid not only deserves this, but given its specific features, it needs this effort at cooperation. And of course I wish to once again thank the President of the Regional Government of Madrid, and the whole of the regional government for holding this fruitful and constructive meeting, which gives a perspective to all the people of Madrid who wish to see their institutions working side-by-side to combat a common enemy that knows no ideological borders or any other type of consideration. This is an epidemiological and not an ideological battle, and this is a great message we are conveying today here from the Royal Post Office.

Question: Pepi Martín, from Radio Nacional de España. I would like to ask the two leaders a question. Given the situation, with the high number of people infected whereby we are seeing that the second wave that we expected in October has already arrived in September, do you plan to implement tougher preventive measures in Madrid and around the country, so that when the cold weather arrives we all go indoors and don't return to the situation in the month of March?

President of the Government: Well, thank you for your question. Let's see, I feel that on many occasions we have the feeling that if a government approves new measures each week it is doing more than a government that maybe approves measures one week and waits to see the results of this two weeks later, because we do know that the period of incubation of this virus is two weeks, and hence the assessments we must make must be subjected precisely to this period of 10-15 days that the epidemiological experts and, in the end, all of us have learned about over these long months of pandemic.

Aside from that, following the state of emergency on 21 June, the Government of Spain, with the unanimous agreement of the Lower House of Parliament, and also the unanimous agreement of all the regional governments, because, furthermore, this was a co-governance process, approved a Royal Decree-Law on the new normal, let's say. At that time, we established the use of face coverings in certain circumstances, social distancing in certain circumstances and a long list of other measures.

Subsequently, in the month of July, an Early Response Plan was also approved unanimously by the Inter-territorial Health Council, the Ministry of Health and the regional health councillors, in response to the epidemiological reality that could take place in the different regions, which we know may not always be the same.

It is not the same situation in one autonomous region in the north of Spain as it may be in the Canary Islands, for example. It wasn't at the beginning of the pandemic, and it isn't now. Hence, within this common framework we have established, clearly the realities must be adjusted to each region. That is why, for example, we have agreed, within the framework of the Inter-territorial Health Council In August, measures related to limiting the capacities of places.

There are autonomous regions that have a limitation on capacity, for example, for restaurants of 75% depending on their epidemiological reality, or 65% or 50%. What I mean by this, what we are doing in the regions, responds to a framework of reference everyone has been subjected to under the auspices of the Ministry of Health according to the epidemiological reality. Adjusting and adapting this according to the spread of the disease.

In order to answer your question; look, I believe that the reality of the epidemic will be what points us to the response we give. In the specific case of the Region of Madrid, what I can guarantee you is the following: any response we give will be proportional to the magnitude of the challenge we face.

And secondly, this will have one single goal, which is to defend public health, save lives and one single foundation, that of the epidemiological experts at the Ministry of Health and those advising the Regional Government of Madrid. By the way, I feel that we forget them on many occasions; they are highly qualified and devoted people, committed to public service and deserve all our recognition.

So, on a scientific basis, I believe that what we must do is assess the measures we are taking, see the accumulated incidence and impact on the spread of the pandemic, and, based on that, make progress with measures that precisely strengthen this common goal we have of flattening the curve.

I have no doubts that we will flatten the curve. And that, I believe, is the message we must pass on to the whole of Madrid society, as we did in the past.

We know how to do this, and we will achieve it again. On many occasions we think that the fight against the pandemic can only be won, and this goal achieved, through a lockdown. But that is not true.

The lockdown was precisely necessary due to the very tragic and dramatic situation we were in at a very specific point in time, precisely when the virus was affecting the most vulnerable groups, the elderly, and those with underlying conditions. As I said, the new average age is 35 in the second wave.

What we must do is halt the spread, precisely so that it does not reach the most vulnerable people. And I believe there is a whole raft of measures that the Regional Government of Madrid has taken, while other regions have taken other measures that have also proven effective, and hence, I believe that this is the path we must humbly convey. But I can also say to you that we will take this decisively and with such resources as are necessary.

Of course, the State resources will be made available to all the regions, particularly to the Region of Madrid. Now, something the President of the Regional Government of Madrid has said that I would like to underline, let me remind you, is that the virus does not spread through institutions, but through people.

We must all be aware that the responsibility we have is absolute, this is not a game, and consequently, without all of our people together, without their resources, because we must all clearly make these sacrifices of not meeting up in gatherings of more than six people, rather than 20, well clearly it will be very difficult for the institutions to be effective in their response to the virus.

Question: Miram Buro from Libertad Digital. For the President of the Government… You have said that we must work side-by-side, which is why I wanted to ask you if you share the words of your Government Spokesperson in the Lower House - Adriana Lastra - last weekend, accusing Regional President Ayuso of destroying the health of Madrid. And if this type of statement helps forums for collaboration, and whether you will try and halt this… Thank you very much.

President of the Government: (inaudible) and right now, following the state of emergency, the Ministry for Health is meeting with all the regional councillors at the Inter-territorial Council every Wednesday. In addition to this, today we set off down a path of strengthened cooperation between Central Government and the Regional Government of Madrid. I believe that, from this perspective, strengthening cooperation and collaboration. Clearly what both our administrations are doing is fairly important.

And I also believe that something the Regional President said is important, which is that the local authorities are also involved in managing this phase of the epidemic, and hence, I want to place things in the right context, that of cooperation and of collaboration.

And then, as regards the question you asked me, I feel that I have been quite clear since the outbreak of the pandemic, and even at the start of this political term, haven't I? I invited all the political parties and politicians not to turn the pandemic into a party struggle. This is an epidemiological struggle, not an ideological struggle. Here we have regional governments of one political party and of another. Our citizens voted for one thing or another, but the virus spreads equally.

It doesn't matter if you vote one way or another, the virus spreads the same. We have a common enemy and consequently I invite everyone to put the party struggle to one side and focus on what is important, on what our people want, which is precisely to see their institutions, their public authorities, work side-by-side towards a common goal. And I also believe that in this context we must change the political climate.

I believe that our people do not want to see politicians in confrontation; they do not want a polarised political dialectic. I feel we can have this at a different time in the term of office, but that right now what concerns us is how to tackle this health emergency and its economic and social consequences. And clearly they exist. And the Government of Spain empathises with that.

Question: Víctor Ruiz Almirón, from ABC. I wanted to ask the President of the Government about the measures that Regional President Ayuso has most called for, which is the question of screening at Barajas Airport. I would like your opinion, and in relation to what my colleague Miriam Muro just asked you, that you have proposed a message of unity here, but a demonstration has been called for next Sunday, unless I am mistaken, which your party has called to be held here in Madrid, against what has been called segregating lockdowns. I would like to ask you whether you feel that this type of comment and attitude is compatible with a call for unity.

President of the Government: Thank you very much for your question, Víctor. Well, I have said over the course of this briefing that we, Central Government, have come here to help, to support, and not to assess or judge. And consequently, when we speak, for example, about the number of Guardia Civil or National Police officers or armed forces servicemen, and in what areas they are going to operate, this, as the Regional President rightly said, is best left for the technical group, the bilateral group that will start to meet as of today.

But I will tell you one thing, because I believe it is important. We must not lose sight of the fact that the people of Madrid, and indeed of the whole country, have shown both individual and collective discipline that hasn't been shown in many other countries.

Let's remember, for example, the lockdown, but also the de-escalation, and when we had to establish timetables to go out for certain groups according to their age. So, the people of Madrid and of Spain want to comply with the rules, because they know they are potential vectors of this virus, but also that they can be potential barriers against it. And hence, I wish to pay tribute, firstly, and remember the social discipline that all the people of Madrid and of Spain have shown over these long months of the pandemic. Aside from that, we clearly have the State law enforcement agencies that will guarantee events in the Region of Madrid and we also have social workers.

I would like to remind you that there are autonomous regions that have made social workers available to the residents of the different districts in their cities by collaborating with local authorities, precisely to inform them of the rules they had to implement and comply with.

Then, I feel that from this perspective, even though you have the State law enforcement agencies, and then you have the technical experts who must logically tell us what numbers we need in the Region of Madrid or in certain districts or cities, I want to remember that the people of Madrid and of Spain as a whole have wholly and in an outstanding fashion complied with this social discipline demanded of them to contain the virus.

Secondly, as regards Barajas Airport. Well, this is a proposal that the President of the Regional Government of Madrid made to me, not just today but on many occasions at the Conferences of Regional Presidents… What I said to her is that we are willing to study other measures at this Working Group.

We have strengthened external health as a result of this, and furthermore, I feel it is important to remember this, that only 0.2% of the number of transmissions in the Region of Madrid over these months, following the state of emergency, that is, from the end of the month of June until now, come from Barajas Airport. Just 0.2%.

Hence, any proposal is welcome, I have no problem with that and the whole aspect of preventive control and detection will be stepped up at Barajas Airport. But I stress, I believe we need to focus all our efforts on where in the opinion of the technical experts of the Ministry of Health the problem really lies, and this is the hotspot of the spread of the virus, which is taking place in the Region of Madrid.

And lastly, in relation to your question again. The position of the Government of Spain, and mine personally, is that this pandemic deserves unity from everyone. And now is not the time for reproaches, it is the time for unity. We will later have time for debate, for party dialectic, if we do things right, if we get down to work and if we support each other, then we will manage to contain and keep the virus at bay. And then, of course, the political dynamic will resume its natural course.

But I believe that the people of Madrid and of Spain as a whole at this time want, above all, for the peace of mind of everyone, to see institutions do what the Regional Government of Madrid and Central Government have done today.

That is why I wish to once again thank the President of the Regional Government of Madrid for her hospitality.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Non official translation