Laurence Dollimore
IF all goes according to plan, Spain’s southernmost region will begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions from as early as this week.
The first will be individual outdoor exercise, which is expected to be permitted from May 2 onwards, if Spain’s coronavirus curve continues its downward trend.
However other than walks or running it has not been specified which sports will be allowed, if any at all, while the permitted hours have also yet to be clarified.
In a press conference today following Sunday’s meeting of the autonomous communities, Junta Vice President Juan Marin said Andalucia has proposed the hours of 7-10am and 9-11pm to practice sport.
Those times will have to be approved by the national government in Madrid.
Marin said: “We also ask people that when they walk they keep a distance of four or five metres and when running a minimum distance of 10 metres … on bicycles it must be 20 metres.”
Andalucia also wants to allow the elderly to go outside for walks from May 1, however it has proposed a schedule to ensure they don’t cross paths with children.
This would see the elderly allowed out from 9am to 2pm and children from 4pm to 9pm.
Other dates to put in your diary are May 3, when the region plans to allow for the return of religious practices, May 10, which is hoped to see all family members allowed outside, May 11 for the opening of shops, including beauty salons and hairdressers, May 18 for funerals (without wakes) and May 25 for hotels and cafes/bars and restaurants.
In regards to shops, under the proposals, there will be a 30-minute time limit in small shops, extended to 90 minutes in larger stores.
All returned products must be disinfected and sales will not be allowed.
For cafes/bars, Andalucia’s proposal states that one cannot stay for more than 30 minutes. If they’re having a meal or eating at a restaurant the time limit is extended to 90 minutes.
There will be a reservation limit of four and people will be banned from sharing dishes while establishments must have air conditioning filters installed and strict disinfecting rotas.
Other measures will include taking temperatures, maintaining social distancing and making hand sanitiser available.
Regional health minister Salvador Illa was confident in Andalucia being among the first regions to see its confinement restrictions lifted.
Illa said at the press conference today: “We have seen several days in which the number of recovered is higher than the number of infected, a trend that we want to continue consolidating this week.
“At the moment the epidemic is in control margins, with an increase rate of infections of 0.9%.
“Andalucia is the third lowest in incidence per 100,000 inhabitants…we have ICUs to spare…as for the deceased, we are well below the national average.”
From today, people over the age of 70 can take a walk between 10am until 12 pm also 7pm until 8pm while children can be out from 12pm until 7pm, there’s an unfairness here, while children can jump and run around the home, the over 70s just sit and get stiff!
I would suggest 10am until 2pm for over 70s and 2pm until 7pm for under 14s, think about it, please?