The Ministry of Health and all of the regions of Spain (including the Canary Islands) agreed yesterday to eliminate national restrictions on the hospitality industry, and to allow the extension of opening hours of nightlife if their epidemiological situation allows it.
They did so in a new meeting of the Inter-territorial Council of the National Health System, a week after national restrictions for the summer were approved by the Ministry of Health on capacity and opening hours of hospitality and nightlife venues, that drew criticism from several of the autonomous communities, including the Canary Islands, who rejected them.
The Minister of Health for Spain, Carolina Darias, has confirmed that the measures related to hospitality are being removed from the agreement, and those for nightlife and non-ordinary mass events become recommendations instead of obligations, while the rest remains the same.
The previous decree included restrictions on closing times of nightlife venues (clubs, discos, fun pubs), to 2.00am in regions with the lowest incidence, and to the hospitality sector (bars, restaurants, cafes, beach bars etc) to 1.00am, until September. These measures will no longer be mandatory, but decided locally, once the BOE publishes the new decree.
Darias said that an agreement has been reached, because "the Government always listens to everyone, to the communities and also to the sectors involved, in this case, those of nightlife, hospitality and tourism. The details had to be agreed by everyone, because society was asking us for this. The image of division does not help, if we go into this crisis together, we come out of it together”, insisted the Minister of Health.
Darias added that the data "invites more hope", by lowering the incidence of cases in the communities and, therefore, "consensus has been sought so that these are the ones that, depending on their own situation, agree measures".
