Health experts believe that vaccines and masks are enough to stop the sixth Covid wave in Spain

"It has been agreed to intensify awareness messages," said the minister Carolina Darias. But there are no plans for compulsory vaccination, as the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for on Wednesday, or the obligatory wearing of masks outdoors, as ordered in the cities by the Italian Government.

"We have a vaccination coverage very different from that of other countries," said the minister, who insisted on the use of masks indoors in Spain because this element "protects against all variants, including Omicron."

In addition, Darias announced that the first coronavirus vaccines for children, some 1.3 million doses, will arrive in Spain on 13 December and will be distributed among the regions in proportion to the child population, and that another two million vials will be delivered in January.

The details for the vaccination of youngsters will be finalised on Tuesday next week, when the Public Health Commission, the body in charge of managing the pandemic, meets. The minister also said that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will analyse and rule on the use of Moderna's vaccine for children this month.