ANDALUCIA – The state of alarm ends on Sunday May 9, and from this time, Andalucia opens its borders. The president of Andalucia announced three phases of de-escalation towards normality.
The first stage of the three phases comes into effect from May 9 until May 31. Each phase is dependant on the progress of the vaccination plan and the on-going incidence rates. There is no longer uncertainty as to the plan from the end of the state of alarm.
Phase 1 restrictions – May 9 – 31
During this phase, there is no longer a curfew. This means people are able to be outside at any time of the day or night. However, as there is no curfew, the government can no longer force people to stay at home. This could also be worrying as it means they also can´t force people to remain indoors even if they have tested positive for Covid-19.
Mobility is now permitted as the perimeter is no longer closed and Andalucia opens its borders. The only way any perimeter within the region can be closed again is with the ratification of a judge. Also if a particular area has an increase in incidence rate above an acceptable limit (such as 1,000 per 100,000), the regional government will request the borders to be closed along with all non-essential businesses. There will be weekly updates for each area to determine the alert level.
Hospitality
Bars and restaurants will now be able to open until midnight. There is still a restriction on number of people per table. This is 8 people indoors, and 10 outdoors on terraces. However, this will depend on the level of alert in each municipality, and may change depending on incidence rates.
Music bars and nightclubs may remain open until 2 am with the same table number restrictions as for bars and restaurants. However, dancing will only be permitted in towns with alert level 1. And only if outdoors and patrons wearing masks.
In other celebrations the restrictions mentioned above will apply plus there will be a maximum limit of 300 people inside or 500 people outside. This again depends on the overall capacity and the level of alert.
Masks are still mandatory. And the capacities will also depend on the level of alert in each area.
Cinemas, theatres, sporting events
In all shows, cinemas, ceremonies and seated events etc it is still necessary to leave one seat free between each group. Or at least for the social distancing of 1.5 metres to be respected. There will also be capacity limits depending on which level of alert the events are in.
Beaches and swimming pools
There will be no time limit set for enjoying the beach or while at the swimming pool. However, as with last summer, there will be a plan in place to ensure the safe distance between groups on the beach and around pools.
Phase 2
Assuming all goes well during the first phase, then phase 2 will commence on June 1. Phase 1 was to help stabilise the situation, and now this phase is to continue the advance towards normality. This will last until June 21.
Phase 3
This is the phase where depending on the first two phases, we should be reaching towards the “new normal”. This is indended to begin from June 21 as at this point 70% of the population of Andalucia will have received at least 1 dose and 40% with both doses.
Everything is of course dependant on no new waves and the rate of vaccination continuing as planned.
