LISTED: The COVID-19 restrictions which will be brought back to towns in Spain’s Andalucia IF they meet the criteria

THE Junta de Andalucia has published a list of measures which will be brought into areas most affected by the second wave of COVID-19.

If a town meets the criteria, it will be ordered to close bars at 10pm and shut down all of its markets.

These are just two of the measures which will be applied if the Junta deems it necessary to close down a city or municipality.

However the regional government, which published the measures in its official BOJA bulletin, will only have the power to call for their implementation in towns and cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants.

It comes after the national government agreed to be in charge of the country’s 63 largest municipalities in a deal hashed out with Madrid last night.

It means the central Government will decide when a city or town with more than 100,000 inhabitants must be closed off, with the same qualifying rules applied across the board.

In Andalucia, the Junta has said the incidence rate is important but it will also value the percentage of PCR tests which are positive, the size of the municipality, hospital pressure and where the cases are focused.

For example if a town has two nursing homes with dozens of cases, this may distort the figures by giving a high incidence rate and suggesting the public is more at risk than it actually is.

As of Wednesday, only one town in the region, Casariche in Sevilla, has been told it must adopt the stricter measures.

So what will these look like? In Andalucia, at least, they are the following:

1. Visits and outings will be banned in nursing homes or care centres.
2. Wakes will be limited to a maximum of 15 people in outdoor spaces and 10 in indoor spaces, whether or not they are living together.
3. All establishments, commercial premises and services open to the public may not exceed 50% capacity and will be forbidden from staying open past 10 pm, with the exception of pharmacies, medical centres, vets, petrol stations and other businesses deemed essential.
4. Hotel and restaurant establishments will limit their capacity to 50%, both indoors and outdoors. Tables or groups of tables must keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters from other tables or groups of tables. The maximum occupancy will be six people per table or group of tables and they must close at 10pm, with the exception of food delivery services.
5. The same capacity and schedule limitations are applied to gambling shops or arcades.
6. In the case of weddings and other civil and religious ceremonies, the maximum number of participants will be 30, both indoors and outdoors, and they must remain seated.
7. Public or private markets will not be allowed.
8. Sports may be carried out in facilities, both outdoors and indoors i.e. gyms, but the venues must not exceed 50% capacity. Sports practice in groups is limited to a maximum of six people.
9. Public parks and gardens, as well as public playgrounds, will all be temporarily closed.
10. Preventive measures will be reinforced in public buildings, with signage, sanitisers etc.