Catalonia to lift regional confinement from March 15

Catalonia to lift regional confinement from Monday, March 15.

THE regional government is also considering easing other restrictions to “reactivate the social and economic sectors” and an announcement is expected later today, Thursday, March 11.

The current confinement has been in place since February 8, but Minister of Health, Alba Vergés argued “small openings” must be made in light of the “slight decrease in epidemiological indicators.”

The Minister of Interior, Miquel Sàmper, told Catalunya Radio today that the government is looking for the ideal formula to “give air” in the run-up to Easter.

“Catalonia’s Civil Protection Plan is working now to give air and begin to decompress society. At Easter, we will not take two steps forward and then take four steps back. The British variant is readapting.

“But there will be air and people will be happy to decompress a little.”

Last week the government extended opening hours for bars and restaurants allowing them to trade until 5pm, and relaxed university and sports restrictions.

A researcher at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, Pere Joan Cardona told El Pais “it’s a good move to open up mobility to maintain the morale of citizens.”

“Everyone knows the individual measures and how to protect themselves,” said the researcher, while warning: “We can relax the measures, but we are facing a wounded beast [the virus]. It is varying, and we can have unpleasant surprises.”

And he suggested quarantines should be extended “because the British variant takes longer to disappear.”

ICU admissions continue to fall in Catalonia and the speed of transmission remains at 0.92.

As of today, 835,496 vaccines have been administered to a population of around 7.5 million.

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