No more curfews in Spain from June 7 and vaccines to start for the 40-plus groups

CURFEWS imposed on the general population in a bid to contain the pandemic during its worst months will be lifted from June 7, and have already been dropped in some regions.

The last to axe their ban on being outside the home at night are the Balearic Islands and the Comunidad Valenciana, both of which imposed a prohibition on movement from 22.00 at the end of October 2020.

In the three eastern mainland provinces, the curfew has gradually been extended to midnight and, from May 24 until June 6 inclusive, residents can be out of the house until as late as 01.00, but still – as has been the case for around seven months – cannot be out before 06.00 in the morning.

The 06.00 morning curfew has also been in place in the Balearic Islands for the same length of time.

All regions adopted a compulsory curfew when the 'State of Alarm' was announced on October 25, for the second time since the start of the pandemic, and which they were permitted to set starting from between 22.00 and midnight to between 05.00 and 07.00.

Castilla y León wanted to bring its curfew forward to 20.00, but was refused permission.

Valencia and the Balearics were among the strictest with a 22.00-to-06.00 curfew, and since the end of the 'State of Alarm' on May 9, most regions have been gradually lifting theirs, with only these two still having the time restriction in place.

It will also mean no compulsory closing times for shops, bars or other 'non-essential' commercial premises, other than those already in place by law in pre-pandemic times.

Some restrictions may continue, such as the current limit of 50% of the maximum safe numbers of customers in bars and restaurants, and shops may be encouraged to continue with their existing limits – stated on the entrance door and based upon being able to keep a minimum of two metres between persons. 

Public events could be limited in numbers for a while yet, although these crowd caps have been relaxed slightly – in the Comunidad Valenciana, a maximum of 1,000 people indoors or 3,000 outside has been imposed until at least June 7.

As well as contagion rates having been falling considerably in the past two or three months across the country and now merely negligible in the Comunidad Valenciana, where many large towns have no cases at all, the vaccine roll-out has cranked up a gear – in theory, all the over-60s should now be double-jabbed, and most regions are now working through the 50-59 age group.

Some have already started on those aged 40 and over, although this is not expected to be widespread until later in June.

From today (June 1), the southern region of Andalucía is expecting to have given out all first doses to those aged 49 and will be summoning residents aged 46 to 48 inclusive this week.

It expects to have everyone aged 40 and over vaccinated in full by the beginning of July.

As at today, just over nine million people in Spain had been double-vaccinated, meaning they are now immune to the effects of Covid – although they can still catch it, they will be asymptomatic; it is not known whether they can still pass it on, however – and almost 18.2 million had had at least one dose.

The second dose for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is given around two-and-a-half to three weeks after the first, although the AstraZeneca vaccine – currently only being administered to the over-60s – has been found to be more effective if the two doses are spaced out more, with a gap of around 12 weeks between them.

As yet, the Janssen vaccine has only just entered the country, has been used on some over-60s and is currently being given in some regions to those aged 55-59 – the same type of drug as the AstraZeneca, an adenovirus version rather than an RNA-messenger, like the Pfizer and Moderna – it only needs one dose rather than two.

From this Thursday (June 3), the Canarian island of El Hierro – which is now totally Covid-free with no known cases – will be starting on vaccinating the population aged under 40.

Catalunya and Valencia intend to start on the under-50s around mid-June.

Vaccinating the 40-49 age group is likely to be the health authorities' biggest challenge yet, given that they are one of the largest among the national population, totalling in region of 7.8 million.

Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha are calling for masks to cease to be compulsory in the open air by summer, which the health authority is strongly considering, but prefers to act with caution.

In Madrid, the aim is for children going back to school this September after the summer holidays to be able to go mask-free in the playground.

Valencia wants to see the mask requirement dropped for 'beaches and woodland areas' as soon as possible, whilst the regional governments of Cantabria and Extremadura have urged national authorities to relax mask rules in a streamlined manner across the country, rather than allowing different rules for different regions.

Spain has announced it has signed up to the European Union's 'green passport', or vaccine certificate for travel, although as yet has not started issuing these – from today, seven EU countries, including Germany, Denmark and Greece, have begun releasing them.

These allow restriction-free travel for anyone who has either been fully vaccinated, has had Covid recently enough to still have antibodies making them immune, or who has a negative PCR test result taken less than 72 hours before arrival at their destination.