Alex Trelinski
16 areas in the Murcia region will lift their local border closures and reopen bars and restaurants from this Wednesday(February 10).
Murcia’s Covid Monitoring Committee said that restrictions will be loosed in the designated municipalities as the total number of COVID-19 infections over the last fortnight has gone below 500 cases per 100,000 residents.
The areas that switch from being categorised as ‘extreme risk’ to ‘very high risk’ are Ricote, Alcantarilla, Torre Pacheco, Totana, Cehegín, Alhama de Murcia, Los Alcazares, Archena, La Unión, Lorquí, Librilla, Mazarron, Aguilas, Abanilla, Fuente Alamo, Blanca and Puerto Lumbreras
They join Aledo, Librilla, Ulea, and Villanueva del Rio Segura in being able to reopen the hospitality sector with terrace service at 75% capacity.
Diners and drinkers can only occupy a table if they live at the same address.
The other change is that people in the 16 newly-named municipalities will be able to leave their local area to go to other non-extreme risk areas.
Municipalities like Murcia City, Cartagena, Fortuna, San Javier, and San Pedro del Pinatar continue to have border and hospitality closures as contagion figures remain high.
Murcia’s new health minister, Juan Jose Pedreño, said: “We will constantly monitor worrying rises in new cases in each area, and if there is a cumulative rise in infections of 40% over a week, then tougher restrictions will be applied again.”
