Yesterday, the Ministry of health authorized Barcelona, its metropolitan area and Lleida to enter phase 3 today. Thus, all of Catalonia is now in the last stage of the de-escalation, and mobility around the entire region has been restored, with restrictions on going to any other autonomous community.
Phase 3 also allows autonomous communities to regain their authorities to regulate the last step to the “new normal", so today the Government of Catalonia announced that Procicat (the body created by the Ministries of Health and Interior) will be in charge of managing all measures related to the lockdown and the return to activity from now on.
Therefore, the first decision was to approve a new Government of Catalonia decree stating that tonight at midnight, phase 3 will come to an end and the “new normal” will begin.
Measures and recommendations for the “new normal”:
- Unrestricted mobility within Catalonia.
- The requirement to wear a mask remains in place.
- The following are recommended:
- Frequent hand-washing.
- Doing activities preferably outdoors.
- Keeping a safety distance of 1.5 meters between people as the best way to avoid crowds.
- Venue capacities should be calculated at 2.5 m² per person.
There will still be restrictions on venue capacities until June 25th:- 50% for closed venues
- 70% for open venues
But after that day, the concept of “capacity” will change to the aforementioned minimum distance of 1.5 meters.
- For very busy venues, the space must be divided into sectors.
- Closed venues: 1,000-person limit, or 2,000 if there are no preassigned places.
- Outdoor venues: 2,000-person limit, or 3,000 if there are no preassigned places.
These venues must have different entrances and exits, and people’s circulation through them must be controlled.
Likewise, the government has also said that it is working on sectoral plans to establish new specific rules in different kinds of activities like education, transportation, sports, entertainment venues, restaurants and popular festivals.
With the shift in phases in Barcelona and Lleida, 78% of the Spanish population (almost 37 million people) is now in the last phase of the de-escalation as of today.
