Christmas with restrictions in Spain: the measures of the European country in the face of the new wave of COVID-19

From the news to the bar terraces, during the last week a recurring theme in conversations in Spain is the new restrictions that have been imposed during this Christmas, a holiday that for the second consecutive year will be marked by a new wave of COVID-19.

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On Thursday 23, finally, the Conference of Presidents was held -a meeting between the heads of each community and the head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez- in which it was agreed to resume the mandatory use of masks outdoors and the strengthening of the program of vaccination at the national level.

After the meeting, the Council of Ministers issued a Royal Decree-Law that modifies article 6 of the New Normal Law, now indicating that everyone over 6 years of age must wear masks outdoors.

On the other hand, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, reported that since the Sánchez government, military hospitals and 150 mobile vaccination units have been made available to the communities to strengthen primary care and carry out the vaccination campaign.

In Spain They hope to inoculate 80% of the population over 60 years of age with the booster dose before the end of this year and that by the first week of March 2022 those over 40 will already have this third vaccine.

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The announcement of new restrictions has come at the same time that Spain exceeded, for the third consecutive day, the record for new daily infections: 72,912.

Health added that 82 deaths from the disease have been registered in the last day and that the incidence rate is the highest of the year, averaging 911 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

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Community restrictions

In addition to the national provision, each autonomous community has established different measures for the Christmas holidays. Catalonia, one of the communities hardest hit by the new wave, is also the one that has implemented some of the toughest restrictions.

According to the latest Health report, issued on Thursday 23, Catalonia registered 3,820 new infections to reach a total of 1,056,925 cases. Madrid, for its part, adds 1’012,720 total cases after reporting 13,122 new infections in the last day.

As a reply, Catalonia has decided to close the nightlife centers, impose a curfew from 1 am to 6 am for the next 14 days in 126 locations -including Barcelona-, and limit meetings to 10 people.

In addition, since last Friday, Catalans must present the COVID passport to enter bars, restaurants, gyms and nursing homes.

But the curfew has not only been implemented in Catalan territory. The authorities of Murcia They ordered that all leisure activities must close at 1 in the morning, while seats in restaurants and hotels were limited to 10 people indoors and 12 outdoors.

The capital, on the other hand, has been characterized by recommending measures rather than imposing prohibitions. In Madrid, they are more committed to the “culture of self-care” and the president of the community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, does not agree with the idea of ​​limiting social life through health passports.

In Valencia -from where I write this article- the COVID passport It is one of the great bets of the local government. The president of the community, Ximo Puig, received the support of the Superior Court of Justice for this certificate to be requested in hotels, restaurants, gyms, cinemas, circuses and other closed venues. His intention, now, is that the arrangement be extended to the terraces.

Puig is also one of the main promoters of the use of outdoor masks.

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Caution at Christmas

The Spanish government has taken advantage of the latest press conferences to recommend to its citizens not to lower their guard during the Christmas celebrations.

The national government councils vary from limiting family reunions to a maximum of two family nuclei to carrying out previous PCR tests to rule out asymptomatic cases and, obviously, avoiding the attendance of those who present symptoms or suspect they have been infected.

In Madrid It was limited to a maximum of 7 thousand attendees at the Plaza del Sol to participate in the traditional Christmas bell, while in Valencia they made the decision to suspend this act.

The message, in any case, has seemed to permeate part of the population. Local newscasts spent much of their noon programming talking about how some customers had canceled their Christmas orders after several meetings fell apart.

The other side of the coin could be found in the bars of Madrid and Bilbao, where groups of people could be seen gathered to drink the traditional cañas (glasses of beer) prior to Christmas Eve.

“It is not like before the pandemic, but you do get to see large groups of people”, highlighted a reporter from La Sexta during a broadcast.

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Deshawn