The Junta de Andalucía has announced new stricter measures from Tuesday to slow the spread of Covid-19.

All municipalities in Andalucía will be closed until 23 November. No one will be able to cross municipal borders except for essential activity. The borders of Andalucía with other Spanish regions will also remain closed as they have been for the last ten days.

All non-essential activity and businesses will have to close at 6pm across the region. This includes bars and restaurants.

This is valid for all the provinces of Andalucía, except Granada, currently with the worst Covid-19 figures, where all non-essential business will have to close all day from Tuesday.

The night curfew will be brought forward to 10pm and extended to 7am across the region.

The measures will come into force at midnight (Monday night - Tuesday morning).

Schools will remain open. All university lectures will be given virtually, except for practical classes.

Private gatherings remain restricted to six people.

No stay-at-home lockdown

The new measures were announced by the Junta de Andalucía in accordance with the decision-making powers given to regional authorities in the new state of alarm declared in October by the central government. This does not include declaring a stay-at-home lockdown.

Andalucía joins other regions that have brought in stricter measures to curb the rate of infection of Covid-19 and relieve the pressure on hospitals. These include Galicia, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Murcia, the Basque Country and Valencia, who have also focused on bars and restaurants, some of them ordering a total closure.

It's a question of tightening mobility even further, said Moreno, as he said the figures do not call for a stay-at-home lockdown.

The restrictions go one step further than those currently in force that were announced ten days ago, just a few days after the central government declared a new state of alarm and announced the night curfew.

Until now Andalucía had maintained the curfew times at 11pm to 6am, although the central government permitted regions to modify this by one hour on either side. This has now been changed to 10pm to 7am.

Until now, 449 municipalities have been isolated, with movement between towns and villlages restricted to essential journeys. This has now been extended to all municipalities.

Recent figures

Covid-19 case figures on Saturday for Andalucía, showed a slight fall compared with Friday, but still nearly 5,000 new positive tests reported in 24 hours.

The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 on Saturday was down by 462 on Friday's figure to a total of 2,764.

The number of Covid-related deaths reported on Saturday was 55, five fewer than the previous day. The number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care was 442 on Saturday, four more than the peak in the first wave of the pandemic, and 16 more than Friday.

Province by province, Granada reported 1,074 new positive tests on Saturday, followed in number by Seville, with 1,350.

Malaga reported 678 new cases; Jaén, 550; Cordoba, 428; Cadiz, 332; Almeria, 275 and Huelva, 306.

Granada was also the province to report the most Covid-related deaths in 24 hours, with 18; Seville reported 10; Cordoba, 9; Jaén, 8; Malaga, 5; Cádiz, 3; Almería and Huelva, one each, accoridng to the figures released by the regional health authority.