Spain has surpassed 100,000 deaths due to coronavirus this Tuesday. Since the pandemic broke out two years ago, 100,037 people have died, 18,179 of whom lived in Catalonia. Updated data from the Spanish Ministry of Health indicate that just over 11 million positives have been detected, although this figure is much lower than the real figure since cases were underdetected for months and now, after the drop in cases, contacts are no longer being followed up.

The Ministry of Health has given in. It renounces to impose mandatory measures and will finally give freedom to the communities to establish measures to decide on nightlife. After autonomous governments led by Madrid and Euskadi voted against the government's plan, rebelled against the impositions -Madrid has even filed an appeal before the National Court- and announced that they would implement their own roadmap, the Spanish government has accepted that its measures to reopen nightclubs and celebrate large crowded events are only recommendations. As for the hospitality industry, Health finally will not make any recommendations and leaves everything in the hands of regional governments.

The pace of vaccination continues to accelerate in the State after the problems with AstraZeneca and Janssen, which led the European Union to entrust Pfizer with the purchase of 50 million additional doses this quarter. Thus, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced on Monday from La Rioja that today Spain will beat the record of arrival and distribution of vaccines among regions, with the arrival of more than 2 million doses in a single day. Specifically, it is 1,763,190 from Pfizer, 103,200 from AstraZeneca and 188,400 from Moderna, while waiting for Janssen to send the second shipment promised for April. As for Catalonia, it will receive 280,000 doses from Pfizer, 30,200 from Moderna and 16,900 from AstraZeneca.

On Wednesday, the first 300,000 doses of Janssen, the new vaccine in a portfolio already containing Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, will arrive in Spain. The novelty of this vaccine lies in the fact that a single dose is sufficient for immunisation. The Spanish Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has announced this Monday morning from the airport of Gran Canaria that the first doses would be allotted to those aged between 70 and 79, who are currently receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Efe informs.

No travelling between regions, curfew at the latest at 23h and meetings in public and private spaces up to six people and four maximum indoors. These will finally be the restrictions that will come into force throughout the state - with the exception of the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, where travellers having obtained a negative PCR test result will be allowed - from Thursday in the face of the Easter holidays. The Ministry of Health and the regions have not reached an agreement within the inter-territorial council to tighten the measures, as the head of the Spanish government, Carolina Darias, was seeking. She proposed the closure of non-essential activity at 20h, as advanced this morning by El Mundo and confirmed by the Catalan Health Minister, Alba Vergés, who was reluctant to the idea pending further details.

Cases of thrombosis in people recently vaccinated with AstraZeneca's vaccine have led Spain to join other countries that have decided to temporarily suspend the administration of the vaccine developed by Oxford University. The Health Ministry announced yesterday the suspension for two weeks - pending a recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) - of immunisation with the AstraZeneca vaccine after an urgent meeting of the Interterritorial Council to communicate the "precautionary and temporary" suspension to the autonomous communities. Germany, France and Italy had taken the same decision "as a precaution" hours earlier.

Carolina Darias said on Tuesday that she took on the "challenge" of being Minister of Health with "hope, responsibility and a lot of humility". After promising the post before the king, and after Salvador Illa gave her the new portfolio, she explained that her plan is to follow the "path traced" by her predecessor, of whom she praised his "temperance" and "hopeful" tone. However, the fact is that Illa leaves the ministry at the worst moment of the third wave, with a daily record of both infections and deaths, which yesterday rose to 591 in the whole state, the highest figures since the first wave. Darias has to face many challenges, but we collect the most important ones.

First crisis in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government, albeit fully controlled and announced weeks in advance. Salvador Illa has said goodbye to the Council of Ministers this Tuesday and is setting out for Catalonia as the Catalan Socialist Party's (PSC) candidate in the elections scheduled for February 14. The decision comes at a complicated time in the pandemic, with the third wave unchecked.