Spain’s Government accepts Catalonia’s proposal to merge Barcelona & metropolitan areas into one health region to ease travel for residents

Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa has today accepted Catalonia’s proposal to merge Barcelona and metropolitan areas into one health region from Monday June 1.

THE move will allow residents to travel across the region for any permitted activities, such as visiting any establishment from businesses to restaurant/bar terraces operating under Phase 1’s de-escalation restrictions.

The request was made because the area is currently divided into three regions – the northern metropolitan area, the southern metropolitan area and the city of Barcelona – with travel allowed between them for work/health reasons only until at least Phase 3 of de-escalation. Today’s agreement, however, allows residents to travel across the region for any activities allowed in Phase 1.

The government has also accepted the request for Girona and Central Catalonia health regions to access Phase 2 of de-escalation from next Monday (June 1). They will join Ebre, Tarragona and Catalan’s Western Pyrenees. The counties of Garraf and Alt Penedès in the capital’s metropolitan area will also move to Phase 2 of de-escalation.

Barcelona, however, will stay in Phase 1 for another week, as requested by the Catalan’s government to comply with the set two weeks in each phase. Lleida will also stay another week in Phase 1 of de-escalation, also requested by the Catalan authorities, after a surge in Covid-19 cases in the area.