Bars and restaurants can stay open until midnight from tomorrow

The Canary Islands Government has not only decided not to appeal the TSJC decision about curfew, but have decided to extend the closing time of bars and restaurants on the islands in level 2 until midnight, will come into force tomorrow once it is published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC), as announced by Julio Pérez yesterday at a press conference held yesterday after an extraordinary Governing Council.

At yesterday’s meeting the government officially decided not to appeal to the supreme court for a curfew, accepting that with the tools they already have to implement closing times, control group sizes, and ban drinking in public, then it becomes academic as in reality, after the bars and restaurants have shut, what is there to do.

This is why they decided yesterday to extend the hours of hospitality businesses on the islands in level 2 (which are currently Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and El Hierro) until midnight, which from tomorrow will now close at the same time as those on level 1 (Fuerteventura, La Gomera and La Palma).

Perez said: “The Ministry of Health will have contact with the Public Health Commission and with organizations of the hospitality sector in which they will exchange criteria, and there, the reasons for this change will be explained. If there is no curfew, it is better to increase opening hours to encourage people to be in bars or restaurants to reduce the temptation to organize illegal parties.”

In addition, Pérez made a special appeal to the younger population of the islands aged between 19 and 30 years old, "an age group where the pandemic continues to have more incidence", because, he added, "it’s their behaviour that depends on how quickly we defeat this virus."

Finally he confirmed that the Canarian Government will appeal the suspension of the perimeter closure in the islands in level 3 and 4, because “it can’t be replaced by alternative measures," said the spokesman, emphasizing that “both the curfew and the perimeter closure are measures that we hope will never need to be implemented again.”