Spain’s Mounting Coronavirus Crisis Is Met by Government Silence

(Bloomberg) -- Spain has re-emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and its government appears largely in denial over it.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is on vacation with his family and hasn’t come out to address the public after Spain, over the course of this week, recorded the highest number of daily infections per million people in Europe. Each day bring more bad news.

The country on Wednesday recorded 3,715 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest since April 23. The region around Madrid accounted for almost half the total.

With the tourism industry decimated and the economy on its knees, some voters are on edge and any perceived indifference by its ruling class could carry a political cost for a weak minority government that relies on separatists to stay in power.

Sanchez’s handling of the pandemic has been widely panned while Italy, which served as model for Spain in being the first to head into lockdown, appears to have a better handle on the crisis. Both countries are in deep recessions and had to try to balance the need to keep people safe with the desire to try and capitalize on a lucrative summer season.

Although Sanchez has continued to take part in regular crisis meetings remotely, his public silence is a far cry from the weekly speeches he gave at the height of the pandemic, when he went as far as saying Spain was at war. At the time, the government organized daily news conferences and on occasions even two in a single day, to discuss the virus.

When the U.K. ordered all travelers returning from Spain to quarantine for two weeks, Sanchez was outraged at being singled out. Since then, the rising numbers forced authorities to order the closure of nightclubs and restrict opening hours for bars.

Other European nations also suffered spikes, but Spain seems to be faring the worst of all.

Its hospitality industry was betting on an influx of visitors in August to stay in business. Instead, nation after nation slapped a travel warning on Spain, the second most-visited country in the world and one where tourism accounts for about 12% of the economy.

Italy recorded the highest number of new cases in about three months on Wednesday and in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel this week came out in public to rule out any further loosening of restrictions.

With Merkel reminding Germans that the trend was worrying and Europe was very much still in the danger zone, Spaniards might be wondering why their leader isn’t doing the same.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.