The Spanish government has proposed a set of measuresfor Semana Santa. At all costs, Spain does not want to make the same mistake as it did at Christmas by relaxing restrictions.
The Semana Santa, one of the most important times of the year in Spain, falls between March 28 and April 5 this year. However, there are still restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Most importantly, the Spanish government learned over the Festive period that premature relaxation of measures could have disatrous consequences.
All Spanish regions agree with proposal except Madrid
With this lesson in mind, the Spanish Ministry of Health , together with the authorities of the autonomous regions, proposed restrictions. And as such, these will remain in place for the duration of Semana Santa and apply from March 26 to April 9.
The Spanish newspaper El País reports that on Thursday all regions will discuss the measures with the aim of agreeing they will apply to the whole of Spain. Currently, however, with the exception of Madrid, all regional authorities agree with the proposal. Moving forward, the goal is for all parties involved to approve the set of restrictions for Semana Santa by next week.
Main points of proposed measures Semana Santa
The Spanish news site La Sexta has access to the government’s proposal and these are the main points:
- Perimeters of all autonomous communities remain or will be closed off and there will be additional closures of certain areas where the virus is far from under control.
- Travel to and from other regions is therefore not possible.
- The proposal mainly calls on students not to return to their parents or family for Semana Santa. This target group is mainly seen as carriers of the virus without experiencing symptoms themselves.
- There will be a limit on social gatherings. Therefore, getting together at home with others remains limited. A maximum of four to six people may congregate, both in public areas and at home.
- Indoor and outdoor events are prohibited and gathering with people from other households indoors will be discouraged.
- The same curfew applies throughout Spain for the aforementioned period around Semana Santa. It will be forbidden to be outside anywhere in Spain between 10 PM and 6 AM.
Shared message with health as the priority
Finally, the government and the regional authorities want to work together to convey the same message. Health must come first! And although the epidemiological situation in Spain is slowly improving, the pressure on hospitals remains very high.
Spain is just coming back from a third corona wave. However, there are still on average, 159 corona cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Spain. As a result, Public Health and most regional governments are clear in their message. Furthermore, they do not want to risk a repeat of Christmas and head into a fourth corona wave.
