Isha Sesay
THE Balearic government has continued to loosen the coronavirus restrictions in Ibiza thanks to a noticeable decline in infections on the Spanish island.
From Wednesday September 15, social interactions between people that do not live together can take place at night.
Previously, these had been banned between 2am and 6am in a bid to crackdown on ‘super-spreader’ villa parties and botellons to which the government linked to a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.
Announcing the change at a press conference, spokesperson and tourism minister Iago Negueruela said this was part of a ‘progressive lifting of restrictions’, with Ibiza now having the same safety measures as the other Balearic islands.
Last week, this restriction had been scrapped in Mallorca and Formentera, with it being lifted in Menorca several weeks ago.
By island, Ibiza is now at medium risk for its COVID-19 hospitalisation occupancy, whereas Mallorca has been classed as low risk and Menorca at a normal level.
Occupancy of critical care beds in Mallorca has however been deemed high risk, medium risk in Ibiza and in Menorca, there are no admissions.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Ibiza airport was the only in Spain to recover its pre-pandemic figures for flights.
In August, the island had the same number of airplanes land (12,160) than the same month in 2019.
Menorca ranked second with 5.3% less than two years ago, followed by Gran Canaria with 18% less and Valencia with 10.3% less.
Madrid however registered the highest number of passengers that month (2.9 million), followed by Barcelona’s El Prat (2.8 million) and Palma de Mallorca (2.6 million).
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