page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Asturias
section_title: May
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Asturias / Timeline / May
caption_attribution_description: English: President Adrián Barbón during a monographic plenary session on Covid-19 at the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias shows a map tha represents the positive evolution of Asturias with respect to the rest of the autonomous communities Español: El presidente Adrián Barbón durante un pleno monográfico sobre el Covid-19 en la Junta General del Principado de Asturias muestra un mapa en el que se ve la evolución positiva de Asturias respecto al resto de comunidades autónomas Asturianu: El presidente Adrián Barbón mientres un plenu monográficu sobro'l Covid-19 na Xunta Xeneral del Principáu d'Asturies amuesa un mapa nel que se ve la evolución positiva d'Asturies respecto al restu de comunidaes autónomes
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic in Asturias is part of the Spanish outbreak of the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
  As of 27 August, there have been 3,219 confirmed cases with 2,152 recoveries and 341 deaths in Asturias according to authorities. 2 hospitalised people are currently in intensive care and 329,579 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted.
  The peak of the pandemic arrived on 16 April, with 1,405 active cases, and on 27 June, Asturias was the first Spanish autonomous community to be declared COVID-free region, with only 45 active cases and after accumulating 14 days without new positive cases reported. However, on 7 July and 25 days after, a positive case was detected in Oviedo.
context_section_description: As in the rest of Spain, on 2 May, Asturias started the nationwide plan for easing the lockdown restrictions. In Phase 0, people were allowed to go out of their homes for short walks and individual sports for a limited time. Since many people went out in the first day, President Barbón showed concern on viewing some photographies of the main cities of the region and warned about a possible new outbreak.
  On 4 May, as part of Phase 0, small business, except those in the hospitality industry, resumed activity under limited conditions. Two days later, Asturias made a request to the central government to start Phase 1 on 11 May. Along with this, the Government requested the possibility for 13 municipalities to start Phase 2: namely those in the Oscos Valley (San Martín, Santa Eulalia and Villanueva), the Valle del Oso (Proaza, Quirós, Santo Adriano and Teverga) and the municipalities of Boal, Grandas de Salime, Illano, Pesoz, San Tirso de Abres and Taramundi. In the end, on 8 May, the Spanish Ministry of Health confirmed that the whole region is able to start Phase 1, thereby rejecting the previous proposal.
  On 11 May, Phase 1 started and Asturian bars and restaurants re-opened terraces at half-capacity, with complaints and doubts about the usefulness of the new working conditions. On the first day, 80% of Gijón's commerce was opened, while in Oviedo and Avilés only 65% of small businesses returned to work. In addition, since that date, suspected cases are allowed to be tested by health officials.
  On 13 May, a large-scale serologic study in Spain suggested that only 1.8% of Asturians (about 18,400 people) had developed antibodies for COVID-19. This was also the first date without any positive cases by PCR-test. Following requests from the Asturian government, the Spanish Ministry of Health announced on 15 May that hunting and fishing were allowed during phase 1.
  On 17 May, the Spanish Government announced that in towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants the time restrictions for sports and walking would disappear, a measure that was already applied in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants. In addition, Barbón requested all time and movement restrictions for all the region to be scrapped, as he qualified them, at that moment, as nonsense.
  On May 18, the Spanish government announced that an agreement had been reached with the autonomous communities to make the use of face masks compulsory in closed places and on the street if safety distance could not be maintained. Until that day, it was only compulsory to wear one on public transport. That same day, protests against central government's management of the coronavirus crisis took place in the main Asturian cities. A hundred citizens gathered in Gijón, a demonstration attended by the president of Vox in Asturias, Rodolfo Espina and the deputy on the General Junta, Sara Álvarez Rouco. There were also concentrations in Oviedo and in Avilés.
  On 19 May, the Asturian government requested to start Phase 2. That same day, the Spanish government changed the criteria for information regarding positive cases and deaths, with only the number of PCR-confirmed cases given, thereby increasing the number of recoveries by 250 and reducing the number of deaths by 14.
  On 22 May, the Spanish government confirmed that Asturias would pass to Phase 2 on 25 May. The next day, hundreds of cars gathered in Oviedo, as well as in several provincial capitals of Spain, called by Vox to protest against the Pedro Sánchez government in Spain.
  On 27 May, as in the rest of Spain, Asturias started the first of ten days of official mourning and rejected on the next day to start the phase 3 earlier, despite the good statistics of the disease in the region. In addition, Pablo Fernández, Asturian Minister of Health, requested to maintain the restrictions of mobility between provinces during the phase 2.
  A new outbreak of 19 positive cases was detected on 30 May in a nursing home of Gijón (15 residents and 4 workers). All cases were moved to the Center of Neurological Disabled People in Barros, Langreo, set up to host
caption: President Barbón during a plenary session at the General Junta on 6 May, justifying Asturias' request to start Phase 1 on 11 May.
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