A court in the very touristy region of Catalonia, in northeastern Spain, decided this Thursday August 19 to lift the curfew introduced last month in Barcelona and other municipalities by the Catalan government to curb a new wave of Covid-19.
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The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) considered that the requested extension of the curfew, which expires Thursday evening August 19, was "
not so much justified by health reasons as by reasons of safety or 'public order
' and therefore decided to maintain it only in 19 municipalities, instead of the 148 required by the regional executive. The ban on private meetings of more than 10 people, however, remains in force "
throughout the territory of Catalonia,
" said the court.
Like the rest of Spain, Catalonia, the epicenter of a fifth wave of Covid that broke out in June, has seen the number of new cases drop sharply in recent weeks, to the point that the incidence fell on Wednesday to 328 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days, less than the national average (378), according to the Ministry of Health.
Catalonia, however, retains the highest rate of occupancy in intensive care for Covid cases (42%) in the country.
261 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Barcelona
This judicial decision is therefore first and foremost the consequence of the improvement in the health situation in Catalonia, especially in Barcelona, since the incidence in the Catalan metropolis has fallen to 261 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days, according to figures from the department. of Health of the Generalitat (Catalan regional government).
At the time of the previous renewal of the curfew, which is in effect between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., the regional government had placed the threshold beyond which this measure was to be imposed at 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days (i.e. 500 cases over 14 days), which resulted in the application of this measure in 176 municipalities, including Barcelona.
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In their new request to the TSJC, the regional authorities, taking into account the drop in the number of cases, had reduced this threshold to 125 cases per 100.00 inhabitants over seven days (i.e. 250 over 14 days), which would have resulted in de facto maintaining curfew in 148 municipalities, including Barcelona.
But the TSJC did not accept this logic.
The fifth wave of Covid-19 was manifested in June by the explosion of cases among adolescents and young people under the age of 30, in particular because of the end-of-year school and university holidays, during which the wearing of the mask was practically absent.
However, the situation began to change with the extension of vaccination to those under 30.
In terms of vaccination, Spain is among the top European countries, with 64.1% of its population fully vaccinated, well above the EU average (55.5%), according to an AFP census based on official sources.