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WHILE the rest of the world was nervously looking up at the sky waiting for an out-of-control Chinese rocket to land on them (it fell in the Indian Ocean and civilisation is still standing and not pancake-shaped), Spain was counting down the seconds to the end of its long 'State of Alarm', and the new birth of normal life.
The country has not been in full lockdown in nearly a year, but restrictions in place have meant, according to contagion rates and where you live, everything from bars and restaurants shutting completely, a ban on travelling outside your town or anyone else coming in, no travel outside of one's region, shops closing early (or hypermarkets with everything bar the food aisles roped off and out of bounds from approximately 18.00), shops being shut all weekend (in Catalunya), nobody allowed to meet anyone outside their household – even if they live alone, unless they were able to form a 'bubble' and assuming everyone they knew hadn't already formed one with someone else - no fiestas, no concerts, no fun.
Of course, catching Covid-19 or watching your family or friends suffer from it – or worse – is no fun either, and whilst many measures were criticised as pointless, over the top, or both, others were accepted with a grim resignation on the basis that, of two prices to pay, the limitations came at a lesser cost.
But the end of the 'State of Alarm' does not mean everything going back to how it was in February 2020 – full pubs, packed shopping streets, boozy festivals, being able to put the rubbish out without having to remember your mask first – although it does mean that the 'legal mechanism' preventing certain fundamental freedoms has now been 'switched off', so they cannot be prevented.
As mentioned earlier this week, regional governments are required to decide what restrictions, if any, they will put in place, and these have to be signed off by regional High Courts of Justice; Valencia, Catalunya and the Balearic Islands have had theirs approved, whilst the Basque Country's were turned down.
In all regions, no travel bans outside or into them are in place any longer, but masks are still compulsory anywhere outside private homes, even in the open air.
Clearly, this means the situation is different depending upon where you live, so we've summarised each one below – although a number of factors remain open to clarification for the moment.
Regions are listed in alphabetical order, so scroll down to find yours if you want a quick reference, or read through if you're interested in comparing your own part of the country with the rest.
Encompassing the provinces of Huelva, Cádiz, Málaga, Granada, Almería, Córdoba, Sevilla and Jaén, the southern strip of the mainland will be working on a phased return to 'normality' in three stages, with the aim of being virtually restriction-free by June 21, as long as the vaccine roll-out has reached around 70% of the region's population.
Bars and restaurants can open until midnight, nightclubs and music bars – which have been shut for a year – until 02.00 in the morning, and up to 10 people who are not from the same household can meet up in outside areas, or eight indoors.
Dancefloors are only permitted outdoors, and everyone must wear masks.
Any towns, villages or cities which report 1,000 or more cases of Covid per 100,000 inhabitants (1% of the population or above) over 14 days will have their borders shut and all non-essential professional and retail activity closed until the situation improves.
This is the first phase, with details of the second and third to be released as they break.
Aragón
In Spain's land-locked north-east, encompassing the provinces of Teruel, Zaragoza and Huesca, Aragón has banned all fiestas, street parties and similar until at least August 31, and reserves the right to confine towns with high incidences of the virus.
Groups of no more than four can meet, in private or in bars, in 'confined' towns, or six people everywhere else; in the former, 'non-essential' trade premises must close at 20.00, and in the latter, at 22.00.
Asturias
This single-province region on the north coast allows all trade premises of 300 square metres or more, including shopping centre retailers, to allow up to 70% the usual maximum number of people in – up from 50% before the weekend – whilst up to six people are allowed per table in bars and restaurants, which can keep their inside parts as well as their terraces open until 01.00 in the morning.
Guided tour groups can be up to 15 if they are in indoor areas, or 30 if they are outdoor.
The islands of Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera will maintain its overnight curfew between 23.00 and 06.00 until at least May 23, when the situation will be reviewed.
Existing limits on numbers of people in social or family gatherings in private homes, and on numbers of people in places of worship, will remain.
Travellers arriving in the islands from other parts of Spain will undergo 'border checks' at ports and airports.
Nothing will change in the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (covering Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro), or Las Palmas (encompassing Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa) as the regional government of the Canary Islands intends to continue with the restrictions currently in place, but has sought legal clearance for the ones that affect fundamental rights, such as movement limitations and curfews.
If it obtains this clearance, islands on Level 3 and 4 will retain their curfews, maximum numbers of people in outdoor or indoor gatherings or at bar and restaurant tables, and in places of worship.
At the moment, though, none of the islands is on either of these levels.
Regional health authorities have the jurisdiction to issue fines of up to €600,000 for breaches of the rules.
Cantabria
This single-province region on the north coast, to the east of Asturias and west of the Basque Country, will retain its cap of 22.30 for restaurant and bar serving times on outside tables, although it is not clear when the premises are required to shut altogether and customers go home – if, indeed, there is a limit on this.
Inside areas of bars and restaurants will remain shut until at least this Tuesday, after which the situation will be reviewed, and outside seating is limited to six per table and no more than 75% of capacity.
Gatherings in indoor public places are limited to four, and in private homes, there is no specific limit but the cap of four is 'strongly recommended'.
Cantabria still has a high contagion risk, so these measures may be relaxed if Covid incidence comes down.
Castilla-La Mancha
This large central region, which sits east, north-east and south of Madrid and covers the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Toledo, Guadalajara and Ciudad Real, will allow bars and restaurants to stay open until 01.00 in the morning, but alcohol may not be sold or consumed between 01.00 and 06.00.
Groups in eateries and cafés are limited to 10 per table, indoors and outdoors, but restrictions on numbers in places of worship have been removed and 100% of the safe maximum for the premises can be permitted entry.
Castilla y León
This large land-locked region which runs from the northern part of the centre to west and north of Madrid and presses against the Portuguese border, covering the provinces of Zamora, Segovia, Soria, Ávila, Valladolid, León, Palencia, Salamanca and Burgos, has axed its curfew, travel restrictions, and limits on numbers of people meeting in public or in private, and whether or not opening hours restrictions for trade or limits on numbers of customers per premises are put in place will depend upon how the virus situation evolves.
At present, bars and restaurants can open until midnight, but this cap will gradually be lifted as Covid case numbers come down; their inside areas are fully open, but if contagion rates rise above 150 per 100,000 inhabitants (0.15% of the population) for two weeks in a row, these areas will shut to the public.
All other social, leisure and sporting activities, religious and secular celebrations, and public swimming pools will keep their existing number limits at the moment, but these will be gradually extended and then lifted altogether if virus rates fall.
Mainland Spain's far north-eastern region, encompassing the three Mediterranean coastal provinces of Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona and the land-locked Pyrénéen province of Lleida, has obtained permission to keep a limit of six people for social or family gatherings in public or in private, and to maintain its curfew and cap of 50% of numbers in places of worship and in religious and secular ceremonies and celebrations.
Bar and restaurant restrictions have been relaxed, as have those on cultural, entertainment and sporting activities, and 'non-essential' retail – the latter can now open until 22.00, and all the others until 23.00, but with the existing restrictions on numbers of people per premises, indoors and out, still in place.
Extremadura
This inland western region that sits against the Portuguese border and is made up of the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres has dropped its curfew, but 'permitted activities' such as trade, sports, entertainment and leisure may not continue beyond midnight, and a set system of number limitations and other measures has been created for application in line with contagion risk or rates as needed.
Each territory – district, town, province or suburb – is on an 'alert level' ranging from 1 to 4 based upon five criteria: Incidence, traceability, positive test result rates, hospital occupation, and intensive care unit occupation, and activities permitted or limited will be based upon either the 'alert level', or the risk level, or both.
Ceuta
The city and its wider area that sits just across the water from Gibraltar on the northernmost tip of Africa has axed limits on home deliveries, increased opening hours for bars and restaurants to midnight, and increased numbers of people meeting in public places, indoors or out, from four to six.
Nightclubs and other nightlife venues remain closed.
Galicia
The region that covers Spain's far north-western point, located just above Portugal and made up of the three coastal provinces of A Coruña, Pontevedra and Lugo and the inland province of Ourense, has axed its border closure, but will 'shut the gates' on any town which is badly affected by the virus and a curfew of 23.00 will apply in these areas.
Up to four people can meet up in indoor places and six outdoors, whether in public or in private.
Nobody is allowed to meet up with, or still be in the company of, anyone else from outside their household unit between 01.00 and 06.00, which precludes staying the night at friends' houses.
Bars and cafés can open until 23.00 and restaurants until 01.00 in the morning, but in areas on maximum alert level for high contagion, they will be required to close down altogether.
Madrid
Covering Spain's capital city and 178 other towns and villages outside of it, the Greater Madrid region has removed its ban on people from different households meeting in private homes – it recommends they do not do so, but this is not prohibited any longer – and has eliminated the curfew, with bars and restaurants now able to open until midnight, rather than having to shut at 23.00 as before the weekend.
Shopping centres now no longer have to shut at 22.00, but can stay open until 23.00, with no more than 75% of their maximum capacity of members of the public.
Bull-rings now permit 50% of capacity, rather than 40%.
Melilla
This city and its wider area, directly due south of the province of Almería, on the northern African coast about 1,000 kilometres west of the Algerian border, briefly became Spain's only Covid-free region back in summer, and is now confident enough of its low virus risk that it does not intend to keep its curfew in place or its regional 'gates' closed.
However, its government has announced it is seeking court clearance to limit family and social gatherings to six people and to an as-yet undefined percentage of capacity in places of worship.
These measures will carry particular significance this week, since the final day of Ramadan, Eid ul-Fitr, is expected to be on Wednesday, meaning gatherings at mosques and family get-togethers are part of the tradition, particularly in Melilla and in Ceuta, where approximately half the population of each is Muslim.
This said, Spain's Islamic community has been urged by its representatives to keep its gatherings to a minimum and limit its numbers in mosques as a precaution, meaning official regional government measures may not be necessary as the public concerned will already be aware of the need to act prudently.
A one-province region on the south-east coast, Murcia will only 'ring-fence' towns and villages which report contagion rates of over 250 per 100,000 inhabitants (0.25% of the headcount) or where incidence has risen by 80% or more on that of the previous week.
Otherwise, the region's borders are now open and there is no curfew, but 'non-essential' trade must be closed between midnight and 06.00.
Gatherings in private homes, or in public places, indoors or out, among people not from the same household have now risen from four to six.
Navarra
Another one-province region, near the Pyrénées and bordering the Basque Country, Navarra has kept its curfew of 23.00 to 06.00 and a ban on bars and restaurants opening their inside areas, or any other activity in indoor premises such as bingo halls, amusement arcades or similar leisure and entertainment establishments.
Outside bar and restaurant terraces are their only accessible parts, but are 100% open, subject to a minimum distance of 1.5 metres (4'11”) between tables, a limit of four per table, and compulsory closing time now increased to 22.00.
Meetings in private homes are limited to six, from a maximum of two different household units.
Basque Country
This northern coastal region is, in fact, in the right place in our alphabetical order – its name in Spanish is País Vasco, so it sits where the 'P' should be (in the Basque language, it is called Euskadi, so should technically be between Ceuta and Galicia).
All three provinces – Guipúzcoa (the capital of which is San Sebastián), Álava (the capital being Vitoria) and Vizcaya (of which the capital is Bilbao) – have dropped their curfews and limits of four people per gathering, but maintain the maximum of four per table in bar, the ban on eating or drinking at the bar area or standing, and compulsory closing time; this has, however, increased from 20.00 to 22.00.
Nightclubs and other, similar hotspots, 'gastro-clubs', discos, and those of the same typology remain shut, arts and entertainment activities, social events and business events such as trade fairs are still banned.
Shops must be closed by 22.00, an hour later than the pre-weekend 21.00 maximum closure.
La Rioja
A sole-province region not far from the Pyrénées and with no coast, La Rioja has dropped all restrictions on night movement or size of family or friend groups, but 'strongly recommends' the latter does not exceed six people.
Bars and restaurants are limited to six per table with at least two metres between each, no more than 50% capacity filled inside, compulsory closure at midnight, and a ban on eating or drinking at the bar area.
The Comunidad Valenciana, made up of the three Mediterranean coastal provinces of Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, has relaxed its curfew slightly – now, movement is only banned between midnight and 06.00 – and a maximum of 10 people are allowed to meet up, irrespective of household units.
The regional government is considering keeping 75% capacity limits on places of worship, but this has not been confirmed.
Bars and restaurants must shut at 23.30, no limit is fixed for shops or other 'non-essential' trade – typically, these would close between 20.00 and 21.00 in any case, but for the past few weeks, have been banned from staying open beyond 20.00 – and only 50% of the maximum safe numbers for the venue are permitted in indoor parts of bars and restaurants, up from 30% before the weekend, whilst outside seating is no longer restricted.
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