Spanish justice authorized Thursday the establishment of a night curfew in most of the region of Catalonia (north-east) in order to slow down the explosion of cases of Covid-19.
The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has announced that it is authorizing “the measures requested” by the Catalan executive, which also include the closing of discos and the limitation of private meetings to a maximum of 10 people.
The measure affecting fundamental freedoms, the autonomous government, led by the separatists, had to ask for the green light from the courts to be able to establish this curfew from 1 hour to 6 a.m. in all cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants where the incidence exceeds 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days, ie, in practice, all of these cases at present.
These restrictions will apply from the night of Thursday to Friday for an initial period of 15 days in one of the most populated regions of Spain and the most touristic in Europe.
Of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain, Catalonia is the one that pleads for the most restrictive measures and restrictions in order to cope with the explosion of cases of Covid-19 caused by the appearance of the new variant Omicron.
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The court decision was announced as the central government adopted a decree on Thursday morning making the wearing of masks compulsory outside the country again, which on Wednesday recorded a new record of 60,041 cases recorded in 24 hours. .
The obligation to wear a mask, which will come into force on Friday and that the executive wants "temporary", will not concern sports or people alone - or surrounded by people from their home - "in a natural space" like " in the mountains or at the beach ”, detailed Thursday the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, during a press conference.
The return of the wearing of a mask in the open air was the most concrete measure announced on Wednesday after an extraordinary meeting between the government of the socialist Pedro Sánchez and the presidents of the 17 regions of the country, the only ones competent in matters of health.
For her part, the conservative president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said on Thursday that she was not considering further restrictions.
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Why Omicron poses the threat of "societal disorganization"
The measures have multiplied in Spain, one of the world champions in vaccination, but faced - like many other countries - with a new wave of cases thanks to the spread of the Omicron variant, which is much more contagious.
The incidence was 784 cases per 100,000 inhabitants Wednesday evening in 14 days, a figure about four times higher than it was on December 1.
This new wave - the 6th in Spain - remains less serious than the previous ones, however, since 15.7% of intensive care units are occupied by Covid patients, against 30% in mid-January 2021, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
