Government proposes maximum closing time of 2am for all nightlife in summer

The Ministry of Health has issued a new proposal to all regions of Spain, with a suggestion of national regulations for the whole country regarding nightlife and big events during the summer. After failing to get a common agreement with everyone in April, the department headed by Carolina Darias has presented a new text to the Public Health Commission.

In today’s proposal, they outline a summer with less restrictions than that of 2020, but still far from the 'old normality' that the Ministry believes should not happen until herd immunity is achieved, that is, 70% of the population completely vaccinated, which is something that will only happen in the second half of August.

The regulation of the hospitality industry is a large part of the document entitled "Coordinated Response Actions for the Control of the Transmission of Covid-19". The Ministry of Health proposes to give the go-ahead that terraces can be occupied at 100% of their capacity, as long as 1.5 metres between the chairs of the different tables is maintained.

The limit on terraces will stay at a maximum 10 people per table and only 6 per table inside. However, the capacity inside entertainment venues and in bars can never exceed 50%. Bars and restaurants will only be able to exceed this capacity by 10% with additional "risk control" measures.

The department wants, in any case, to avoid the ‘natural relaxation of rules’ caused by late closure, and proposes an agreement throughout the country to close nightlife during summer at 2 in the morning at the latest, a proposal that several regions have already warned that they are not willing to support.

Another of the proposals is to limit mass events to a maximum of 5,000 people, but depending on the degree of the incidence rate in each area. The central government wants to abandon the traffic light system that has been used until now, and continue with the scale of four alert levels. In the first one (level 1), you will be able to have events of up to 5,000 people in the open air. At level 2, audiences of up to 2,500 will be allowed, while at higher levels (3 and 4) which have an IA14 of 150 or more, any major events will be banned. In all cases the use of masks will always be mandatory.

Also, the 14-day incidence rate will not be the only parameter taken into account. The incidence rate over 7 days (which more accurately anticipates trends in evolution) and positivity (the percentage of positive tests out of the total number of tests performed) will also be taken into account. If this figure is above 4% the situation in that area would be considered worrying.