When the current extraordinary regularization process for immigrants is completed, up to 150,000 people who live and in many cases work in Catalonia –almost half a million throughout Spain– will go from not having papers and living in the underground economy, to being able to formally enter the labor system with legal residence permits. The regularization will have evident consequences in many areas, such as the labor market or social security, but research also indicates that it may have consequences for security.

"This is the fifth time we were wrong and failed in de-escalation. The difference is that now we had all the elements to foresee and prevent the wave," says the head of infectious diseases at the Hospital de Sant Pau, Joaquín López-Contreras. The epidemiological situation in Catalonia is critical in terms of contagions and the pressure on care. The European Union strongly advises against both entering and leaving the country due to the brutal cumulative incidence (1,089 infections per 100,000 inhabitants) and the Catalan Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, admits that the Government should have "reacted earlier". He added: "With these figures, we clearly cannot have done things right".