Bars and restaurants will remain open as new capacity rules are announced in Spain’s Valencian Community

THE VALENCIAN COMMUNITY is not following other regions of Spain in closing down bars and restaurants as coronavirus infection rates continue to rise.

A new package of measures announced this morning(November 6) orders indoor capacity to be slashed to 30 per cent from midnight tonight, with 50 per cent for terraces.

Any form of self-service or buffets are banned.

Capacity in shops will be 50 per cent and markets can only have half of their regular quota of stalls.

Hotels can only have up to a third of their rooms occupied, while people that did not normally live together, cannot stay overnight at each others houses.

Valencian president, Ximo Puig, confirmed that the Elda and Petrer municipalities will be ‘confined’ for a fortnight from midnight, due to their high infection rates.

That means that except for work and other special reasons, people cannot enter or leave those two areas.

Orihuela had its call to join them rejected by Health Minister, Ana Barcelo.

Ximo Puig said: “These measures are all about saving lives, protecting jobs and safeguarding families.”

“The situation is serious but we should not lose perspective. We are better-off with infection rates compared to other regions, but we cannot relax. We must have strict compliance with all of the old and new measures and not tolerate any recklessness,” he added.

Puig said that there were no plans for any home confinements as was the case under this year’s first State of Alarm.

Asked by journalists over the prospects for Christmas and the New Year, Puig responded:

“It is too early to say what kind of a festive period people will be able to have but we have to try to maintain the fundamentals of the holiday season.”