Catalonia with the tourist metropolis of barcelona has again announced strict restrictions on public life in view of rapidly rising corona numbers.
Clubs, bars and discos were to be closed, night-time curfews were to be imposed between 1.00 o'clock and 6.00 o'clock and to limit the occupancy of restaurants, cultural and recreational facilities, as well as the number of participants in private meetings, announced the regional government of the autonomous community in the northeast of spain. These measures were to take effect on friday for an initial 15 days. However, the supreme court of catalonia still has to approve the plans.
The number of corona cases is rising very rapidly in spain, despite a high vaccination rate of around 90 percent of all people over the age of twelve. The seven-day incidence is now a good 377, higher than in germany (306.4). The load is also increasing in the hospitals. A total of 1442 corona patients were treated in intensive care units, occupying 15.5 percent of capacity.
Spain's head of government pedro sanchez has called a crisis meeting for wednesday afternoon in view of the developments. The videoconference with the presidents of the autonomous communities, who are roughly equivalent to minister-presidents in germany, will focus on measures to contain the pandemic, sanchez had announced in a nationally televised address broadcast on sunday.
The highly contagious omicron variant of the virus is also circulating in spain and, according to experts, may soon be prevalent. Apart from catalonia, however, the other regions have so far relied on relatively mild measures: rapid progress in third-party vaccinations and the 3G rule – vaccinated, recovered or tested – when entering many public indoor areas, restrictions on the occupancy of restaurants, cinemas and concert halls, and a general obligation to wear masks in public indoor areas and, in some cases, also outdoors.