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Andalucía won't make a decision until mid-December on its Covid measures for Christmas

Andalucía won't make a decision until mid-December on its Covid measures for Christmas

The 10pm curfew, 6pm closing and municipal lockdown continue until 10 December, when the Junta de Andalucía says it will review restrictions depending on the infection rate and hospital figures

SUR

Friday, 27 November 2020, 14:54

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The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has said that the regional authority would wait until mid-December before announcing the Covid-19 restrictions that would be in force during the Christmas holidays.

Moreno had already explained last Sunday that Andalucía had to remain under the current restrictions until after the long Constitution weekend (7 and 8 December are public holidays) in order to allow more freedom of movement in the run-up to Christmas.

What will be permitted during the coming festive period is currently being debated around the country, both on a regional and national level.

Restrictions in force now

  • Restrictions in Andalucía aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 were extended last Sunday until 10 December, with very little change on the previous fortnight

  • The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, announced that movement between municipalities would remain restricted to essential journeys (for work, education, appointments, etc.) throughout the region.

  • The night curfew also remains in force, from 10pm to 7am. Non-essential businesses still have to close at 6pm although customers are now able to pick up takeaways from bars and restaurants until 9.30pm. Another change was that shops are now able to sell toys until 8pm.

  • The stricter measures in force for almost three weeks in Granada province (total closure of non-essential businesses) have been relaxed in the 43 municipalities in the Granada Sur health district.

  • This includes towns on the Costa Tropical and in the Alpujarra area, where businesses were able to open again this week until 6pm as in the rest of the region. The total closure remains in force in the rest of Granada province.

The central government, which has left the decision-making on Covid-19 restrictions to the regional authorities, has nevertheless produced a draft list of measures that it proposes for the Christmas period.

These include limiting Christmas and New Year's dinners to a maximum of six people per gathering and imposing a night curfew between 1am and 6am, which would prevent the traditional all-night-long New Year's Eve parties that are popular in Spain, especially among young people.

The draft set of measures also suggests limiting company Christmas celebrations to six people, recommending outdoor celebrations wherever possible.

Andalucía reaction

Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, responded by saying that the regional government would take its own decisions, rather than sticking to the central government's guidelines, and that these would depend on how the infection rate and the hospital figures develop over the next couple of weeks.

In fact Juanma Moreno said on Wednesday that they would wait until mid-December before deciding on what measures to bring in for the holiday period. He is due to announce changes to the current measures on 9 December.

Speaking again on Thursday, he warned of the "enormous danger" of contagion if people "relax their attitude" too much as the holidays approach, although he hoped that families would be able to get together.

However "Christmas 2020 will be very different to Christmas 2019," he said.

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