Curfew returns to Barcelona and other tourist spots to contain coronavirus outbreaks

Spanish justice has authorized the night curfew requested by the Catalan regional government in Barcelona and several tourist towns, to contain the surge in coronavirus cases in recent days.

The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia has authorized the application of the curfew between 1 and 6 hours until Saturday 23 in Barcelona and in municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants with an incidence of more than 400 cases per 10,000 inhabitants in the last seven. .

“The resolution of July 15 is authorized by which measures are established to restrict night-time mobility to contain the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the territory of Catalonia”, communicates the Catalan court.

From the night of this Friday, the citizens of the affected populations will not be able to stay in the streets without justification between 1 and 6 hours.

“It is a difficult measure, but necessary to stop the contagion, to protect lives and the health system”, said Catalan President Pere Aragones in a tweet after learning of the legal endorsement.

These are mainly municipalities in the metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona and the province of the same name, although many cities on the coast and the cities of Girona, Tarragona and Lrida are also included.

The court decided to approve the measure “despite its very marked territorial and personal scope” and “with the aim and effect of safeguarding and preserving the rights to life and the protection of health and the stability of the health system. “, reported the newspaper Sputnik. agency.

“All this because of the painful result of the epidemiological indices which leave us all in such bad shape, especially if the result by age groups is taken into account”, waved the judges.

Catalonia thus becomes the second Spanish region after Valencia to re-establish a curfew to stop the spread of the coronavirus, while Cantabria, Extremadura and Navarre are awaiting judicial approval.“

The duration of the night confinement has been set until the 23rd, although it may be extended depending on the epidemiological evolution.

Catalonia thus becomes the second Spanish region after Valencia to re-establish a curfew to stop the spread of the coronavirus, while Cantabria, Extremadura and Navarre are awaiting judicial approval.

The increase in cases is met with the good news that during the week of 5 to 11 of this month, for the first time this year, the country did not record any deaths from Covid-19 in the nursing homes, according to a report by the Institute for the Elderly and Social Services (Imserso), with data provided by communities.

The sector was in decline, probably due to the vaccination of the elderly housed in these centers, but so far the figure of zero deaths had never been reached.

The report, cited by the newspaper El Pas, also lists 124 infections that same week.

Nursing homes for the elderly have been one of the major hotbeds of the pandemic since the virus began to spread, in March 2020, with a record 29,631 deaths of people living in these centers.

This year, following the vaccination, the death toll fell and 3,837 were the biggest deaths in residences, especially in January and February.

According to El Pas, most of the more than 300,000 elderly people who live in residences are already vaccinated, but the risks remain despite everything because it is a very vulnerable population, due to age and various pathologies. that they tend to suffer from.