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A BIT of freedom for residents and respite for bar-owners and restaurateurs is on its way in the southern region of Andalucía – as from tomorrow (Thursday) a relaxing of restrictions has been announced.
Gatherings of up to six people will now be permitted, in private homes or on bar terraces – an increase on the previous limit of four – even where they are from different households and not in 'support bubbles'.
Inside cafés and eateries, groups of a maximum of four are allowed.
Although the curfew remains at the usual times, of between 22.00 and 06.00, shops, bars and restaurants are now permitted to stay open until 21.30, in line with popular request.
These measures only apply in towns on no more than risk level 2, with lower incidences of Covid contagion, but the regional minister for health and the family, Jesús Aguirre, says this encompasses a 'very large percentage' of Andalucía's territory.
Towns with their borders shut and only essential trade in operation are, broadly, those with more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or at least 0.5% of their population.
At the moment, only 28 municipalities in the region fall into this category, compared with 51 as at the beginning of this week – at least a quarter of those above the 0.5% rate being in the province of Sevilla.
Here, the incidence has risen above 500 cases in every 100,000 this week in Alanís, El Garrobo, Lora del Río, Tocina, Los Molares, and Montellano, although only the town of El Castillo de las Guardas has more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 residents, or above 1% of the population.
The 'case ratio' does not apply, for restriction purposes, to villages with 1,500 or fewer inhabitants, as the measures could turn out to be disproportionate – as an example, in a municipality with 600 residents, it would only take three people to test positive for the 500-per-100,000 limit to be reached.
Instead, these small villages will be treated on an individual basis if case numbers rise.
Aguirre says the region and all eight provinces – Málaga, Cádiz, Huelva, Sevilla, Granada, Almería, Córdoba and Jaén – are still confined, meaning nobody can leave or enter unless exceptional circumstances prevail and they can prove them.
He warns that 'no crazy scaling-back of restrictions' will be happening just yet, but that the new measures from tomorrow will 'give residents a bit of the breathing space they deserve so much'.
Given that Spain, like the majority of Europe, is giving each population group both doses of their vaccine before moving onto the next – meaning most of the country is still working on the over-80s and essential public-facing employees – only around 2.7% of Andalucía has been immunised to date, but Spain as a whole is aiming to have at least seven in 10 inhabitants inoculated by July.
This could mean all bar a small handful of the adult population since, at the moment, under-16s are not being vaccinated.
THE BORDER between Spain and Portugal will open from Saturday, and from Monday, bars and shops in the Comunidad Valenciana will be permitted to stay open until the 22.00 curfew.