Fines of up to €600,000 for breaching COVID restrictions announced

Fines of up to €600,000 have been announced by the Catalan Interior Ministry for people who commit ‘very serious’ breaches of the new restrictions.

To ensure compliance with the measures of the new state of alarm decreed in Spain by the Government, sanctions and fines have been announced for those who fail to comply with the restrictions. The Minister for the Interior of the Catalan community, Miquel Sàmper, announced the massive penalties on Monday and said they were necessary to let people know how serious the situation is.

Catalonia reported almost 5,000 new positives for covid-19 and more than 20 deaths on Friday and introduced new tighter restrictions on Sunday following Spain’s state of the emergency announcement.

Over the weekend police broke up two large street parties in the Barcelona town of Sant Quirze del Vallès, in the municipality of Bordils. The first of them had almost 100 people and the second group consisted of around 90 members All were not respecting the health safety measures of social distance and the mandatory use of a mask. The penalties for this type of event vary between €3,000 euros for the mildest, €60,000 if they are more serious and can reach €600,000 euros for ‘extremely’ serious offences!

During the Procicat press conference held yesterday, the minister appealed to civic responsibility and highlighted the seriousness of the epidemiological situation in the Catalan community: “The measure does not have a coercive or collection purpose, it is a deterrent to face this so serious pandemic “, declared the minister.

Sàmper has also appealed to smaller gatherings “of more than six people” for picnics in public parks in the city of Barcelona: “Either we are very clear that it is a matter that we all have to work on, or we will not succeed,” he said.

The second wave of coronavirus in Catalonia is especially affecting people of working age, hence the experts in the analysis and prediction of the pandemic have asked the authorities to minimize face-to-face activity and to promote teleworking.

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