Spain’s Madrid Celebrates no New Covid-19 Outbreaks by Opening Night Clubs & Venues from Friday

Madrid’s night venues and clubs are preparing to finally open their doors to the public this Friday, albeit without a dance floor.

“Discotheques and night clubs will be able to open from this Friday up to 40 per cent capacity,” confirmed Madrid’s Vice President, Sports Councillor and Spokesman, Ignacio Aguado. “However, customers will not be able to use the dance floors for obvious reasons, but they can be used for extra tables/seating,” he confirmed at today’s press conference.

Although cocktail bars and restaurants have already been open for a few weeks now in the capital – with restrictions, today’s announcement means that “an additional 2,300 nightlife venues in the region will now be able to reopen their doors this weekend,” added Aguado. Madrid has been slower to loosen restrictions given that the capital was still registering more fatalities and deaths compared to other regions in Spain. However, both the number of new cases and infections are now generally on the decline, which means that Madrid can also enjoy fewer restrictions in the country’s ‘new normal.’ This will provide a huge boost for businesses in hospitality and retail.

Now that the regional government is “reasonably happy with the Covid-19 data and convinced that the epidemic is leaving in the region, Madrid can enjoy greater freedoms such as increasing bar capacity from 60 per cent to 75 per cent from next Monday,” added Aguada. Terraces can also be filled to 100 per cent capacity, if businesses have them.

“Fortunately, there have been no outbreaks today and we have no active outbreaks, which makes us optimistic,” added Aguado, who is also a member of the Ciudadanos party. However, he was also quick to remind citizens that “the virus isn’t on vacation” so the public should “continue to wear face masks and respect hygiene protocols, such as social distancing.”