Against the coronavirus, two regions in Spain ban smoking in the streets

Two regions of Spain on Thursday, August 13 banned smoking in the streets because of the risk of contagion from Covid-19 while the order of doctors asked the authorities to " raise the bar " to prevent a new wave of pandemic is sweeping the country.

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Since Thursday, Galicia and the Canary Islands - 5 million inhabitants between them - have banned on Thursday smoking in the street and on the terrace without a safety distance of two meters, which seems to be a first in Europe. In question, the clouds of smoke, even from electronic cigarettes, emanating from the mouths of smokers, possible vectors of transmission of the disease.

A sign of growing concern about the upsurge in transmissions of the virus, the Canaries have at the same time imposed the wearing of masks in the street, a measure already in force in the rest of the country. The Order of Physicians has issued a cry of alarm, asking the authorities to " raise the bar " if they do not want to be overwhelmed by the pandemic as they were in March and April when the epidemic broke out. has left more than 28,600 dead in one of the most bereaved countries in Europe.

Risks for smokers who remove their mask

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned at the end of May that by removing their mask, smokers could be more exposed to contamination since they put cigarettes in their mouth with their fingers, and increase the risk of transmission. virus.

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In June, the Spanish Society of Epidemiology had called for a ban on smoking outdoors because " smokers who are infected and asymptomatic can emit droplets containing the virus and put the rest of the population at risk ". If Galicia and the Canaries were the first to draw up the ban on smoking in a public place without possible social distance, other regions, including that of Madrid, could follow suit.

Outside Europe, other countries have taken measures to ban smoking: Jordan has banned cigarettes and hookahs in closed public spaces. The hookah, whose hose often passes from mouth to mouth, is also prohibited in Tunisia in closed places, as well as in Egypt, where smoking shisha is prohibited both indoors and on the terrace. In South Africa, the sale of tobacco has been banned since the end of March, " because of the health risks associated with smoking ", in particular because " the way in which tobacco is shared does not allow social distancing ".

Indignant doctors

Hailed by several epidemiologists, the effectiveness of the ban is questioned by others. Dr Fernando Garcia, of the National Epidemiology Center, told AFP that we did not have " sufficiently solid scientific information to demonstrate that tobacco smoke can transmit the disease in an open environment ".

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Partial confinements, closure of nightclubs and limitation of meetings to ten people: the country, plagued by a resumption of the epidemic two months after its deconfinement, is deploying a battery of measures to counter the multiplication of outbreaks and the influx of patients in the hospitals, memories that Spain thought they left behind.

The medical order, however, said it was " disappointed and outraged " at the lack of coordination and rivalries between the 17 autonomous regions, each competent for Health, and the central state in the fight against Covid-19. For him, the relaxation of behavior in terms of distancing, the resumption of family reunions, the reopening of bars and nightclubs, and the poor working and housing conditions of seasonal workers, who move from region to region, are at the root of the problem. origin of this rebound in the disease.

Spain is the large country in Western Europe most affected by the current recovery, far ahead of its neighbors with 110 cases per 100,000 inhabitants against 28 in France, 18 in the United Kingdom, 13 in Germany and 8 in Italy, according to AFP calculations based on official figures.