Following last night’s press conference after the Governing Council meeting to review epidemiological data and alert levels in the Canary Islands, more details regarding Tenerife’s Reinforced Level 3 have been revealed, that will be published in the Boletin Oficial (BOC) tomorrow, and take effect from midnight on Saturday night. Hopefully, this will help clear up the decisions that have been made and why, and what sector the updates are aimed at.
The main regulations and measures to be applied at this level are as follows:
- Curfew that limits night time mobility between 00:30 and 06:00 hours (awaiting authorization from the TSJC).
- Closure at night time of beaches, parks, squares, plazas and other spaces where it is "anticipated that there may be crowds or people drinking in public." from 8:00pm to 6:00am.
- Prohibition of the sale of alcohol at the retail level from 8:00pm (Shops, minimarkets, supermarkets, etc)
- Capacity limitation in shopping centres and parks to 25%. No ‘waiting around’ in common areas of commercial centres, unless queuing to access shops and stores. In the case of shops distributed over several floors, this limitation must be met in all of them.
- Prohibition of shows in closed spaces if distancing cannot be maintained or the use of a mask cannot be controlled. They may take place outdoors, as long as this distance between the performers and the public is guaranteed.
- Banning of events with more than 700 people and those with less influx are discouraged. The postponement of any celebration or mass event not subject to prior authorization is recommended.
- Working remotely at home is encouraged whenever possible.
- 33% capacity limitation on public transport, especially on the busiest lines.
The Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, explained last night that these measures are targeting activities of young people who are the ones that the virus is now most prevalent in, who are the age group not adhering to anti-Covid measures as much as others, and are the ones who need to be vaccinated for us to achieve herd immunity, but are not registering to do so.
Regarding the hospitality sector, the same regulations agreed last week are still in place for bars and restaurants:
- 75% capacity on terraces, 6 people per table.
- 40% capacity in interiors which may be raised to 50% in the event that a minimum of 10% of the users have the complete vaccination schedule. The maximum occupancy per table or group of tables will be 4 people per table in the case of unvaccinated people and 6 people in the case of people with the complete vaccination schedule.
- 2 per customer group at the bar.
- Registration of all clients using interiors.
- Closing time stays at midnight.
- All health protocols of distancing of tables, use of masks, hand gels no smoking etc, must be adhered to.
These regulations were agreed upon after the Supreme Court rejected the provision of closing interiors at level 3, due to the fact that more than 60% of the target population have had at least one dose of their vaccination, and over 40% are fully immunised.
