The Government will tighten the restrictions from the 7th and for 10 days before the rise of the coronavirus, with the establishment of municipal confinement every day and the closure of shopping centers and gyms, while it will begin to vaccinate the toilets, in parallel to the elderly in residences.
This was explained by the Minister of Health, Alba Vergés, at a press conference together with the Minister of the Interior, Miquel Sàmper, in which she announced this “new social and country parade” to try to “keep the virus at bay “, for which they have also agreed that only essential businesses will be able to open during the weekends.
The new restrictions include a municipal perimeter confinement every day, with exceptions such as the current ones -going to work, going to school, medical emergencies or caring for the elderly-, for which the Mossos d’Esquadra may require a declaration of self-responsibility or supporting document.
In this way, the scope of regional confinement declines and will become municipal during the seven days of the week from next January 7 and until the 18th of the same month, when the measures will be reviewed.
According to Sàmper, this measure will mean that from midnight on January 6 to 7, the perimeter closure will end in the Ripollès and Cerdanya regions, which the Government agreed to during the Christmas holidays, as well as the regional equalization of the Alt Urgell and Andorra.
For this reason, mobility will again be limited throughout Catalonia to the same model, with a municipal perimeter seven days a week.
Controls at the exits
Sàmper has recognized that the municipal perimeter closure is “easier” to control than the regional one, because with the support of the 216 local police forces there is more availability to establish controls at the exits of the municipalities than in the regions.
He has specified that, despite the fact that the confinement will be municipal, the exception will also be maintained to allow circulation if it is to return home, which affects people who have spent these Christmas holidays in second homes, hotels or rural houses.
In addition, the Minister of the Interior has announced, to questions from journalists, that the Government is working on a package of measures to support the sectors affected by the new restrictions. Hours later it has been specified that they will be forced to close the 10 days.
Non-essential businesses will be closed on weekends and, during the week, those with less than 400 square meters of surface may open and shopping centers will be closed again.
The restoration will continue as before -with time slots to serve only during meals and breakfasts-, as well as culture -with capacity restrictions-, while sports activities and gyms will only be authorized those that are done outdoors. Schools will open as planned on January 11, although after-school activities are suspended.
Vaccination delay
After the accumulated delay in vaccination, Vergés has explained that they will be administered every day and will begin to vaccinate the toilets, without waiting to finish with the residences.
The toilets were already part of the essential group that had to be vaccinated in the first stage, although after the elderly in residences.
The Secretary of Public Health of the Generalitat, Josep Maria Argimon, has indicated that with the entry of the toilets, the vaccination process can be “maximised” in the event that a residence may momentarily fall off the calendar due to an outbreak.
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